Friday, February 14, 2020
Vol. 80, No. 7
$1
Senior housing proposed for former mobile home park
THE LITTLE MERMAID
BY GARY SIMEONE
Some of the cast and crew of Syosset High School’s “The Little Mermaid.” Syosset High School’s Theatre Arts presents “The Little Mermaid,” a beloved story based on Hans Christian
Andersen’s tale and the Disney animated film. It is a story of longing, love and sacrifice as Princess Ariel
risks everything to join her prince on land. If you know Syosset High School’s producSee page 14
Syosset Board considering later start time for high school BY RIKKI MASSAND The Syosset Board of Education is reviewing studies about the effects of changing the start time at Syosset High School. At the Board of Education’s February 10 meeting, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Thomas Rogers said while more study continues on the matter and cost con-
siderations are a driving factor, the earliest any change to the high school starting time could take effect is for the 2021-’22 school year, now 19 months away. The timeline is too short for there to be a change for the 2020-21 school year. To date the district has received feedback on a move to a later start time for SHS from
2,278 community participants -expressing a total 2,086 unique thoughts on the prospect. Rogers told the board at first he had trepidations on opening up the subject to the entire community for input, but Syosset administration has been thoroughly impressed with how productive See page 14
The site of a former mobile home park in Syosset could be soon be turned into a senior housing and mixed-used development project. A meeting was held on the subject at last Tuesday's Town of Oyster Bay Board meeting, where the development team and the Town Commissioner of Community & Youth Services, Maureen Fitzgerald, discussed the pros and cons of the proposed project. Woodbury based developer, Paul Laruccia, sought a change of zone and special use permit from the Town, regarding the property located at 80 Jericho Turnpike. His company, 80 Jericho Turnpike LLC, purchased the 5.7 acres of property in 2016, after all of the residents had been evicted from their mobile homes. Louis Soloway, attorney for the project, said the proposal is to divide the property area into two distinct lots in separate sub-divisions. "The northern portion of the property will be known as Tribeca Square, which will be comprised of a three-story building with commercial and restaurant uses on the first floor as well as 44 luxury residential units on the two upper floors," said Soloway. "The southern portion
of the property, which will comprise a little over 2.8 acres of land, will be known as Gramercy Park, and will house 61 rent controlled apartments in five two-story buildings. These apartments will be sold to persons who are on the town's list of eligible purchasers." Soloway added that when the project is completed, based upon the current tax rates, Tribeca Square will generate $703,000 in real estate taxes and the Gramercy Park area would generate additional taxes that fall under the Town's RSC (Resident Senior Citizen)-25 zoning classification. In order to keep the housing affordable for potential residents, the Town's Golden Age Housing Program would go into effect, which provides high quality, privately-owned, affordable cooperative units to seniors who meet the income and residency requirements. Richard Gibney, a landscape architect for the project, said when he walked the site for the first time three years ago, the one word that came to his mind was blight. "When we walked in the back, there were old trailer homes and trees that had not been cared for in over thirty or forty years," said Gibney. "We See page 14
Jericho students collect toys for charity PAGE 4 New athletic director at OLM Academy PAGE 8