Mastic Beach residents have an opportunity to weigh in on the plan to redevelop the Neighborhood Road downtown through a survey conducted by Brookhaven Town.
The project was discussed in detail during a community meeting with town officials and the Beechwood Organization, the Master Developer selected by the town to rebuild the blighted 47-acre business district. About 400 residents had an opportunity to ask questions about the massive plan and then go one-on-one with town board members, planners, and the project’s principles, Michael Dubb and his son, Steven, who displayed artist renderings of what the new community could look like.
The meeting kicked off an intensive review process that requires community input on environmental, traffic, design, and other issues. The review is expected to last a year, with groundbreaking in early 2026. The plan is to build units for both rental and purchase, with 20% designated as affordable units ranging from $281,000 to $421,000, Steven Dubb noted. The developer is looking to create a seaside atmosphere similar to Westhampton Beach with broad streets, diagonal parking, and wide sidewalks to create an open feeling that people will want to visit to dine and shop.
The design will keep the lighthouse and cannon at the community's entrance, which will draw people into a community green, a place of importance where fairs and festivals are envisioned. A tower will offer visitors a view of the area’s biggest draw: the bays and waterways leading to the Atlantic Ocean.
The idea for downtown living results from a process that goes back to a 1995 Tri-Hamlet Plan and ensuing studies aimed at restoring a community whose heyday had come and gone as a popular vacation destination. The area’s densely packed summer bungalows allowed for inexpensive home purchases, which later haunted the community as absentee landlords and slumlords bought them up.
Town Supervisor Dan Panico grew up in Mastic Beach and vowed to see the project through. “We want the redevelopment to be successful and palatable to the people who live here,” he said. “We have a once-in-a-generation chance to do this. It is something that has to happen down here. I work on this every day. We cannot let this fail.”
The supervisor said the new structures would be no higher than four stories, about the height of the 50-foot ambulance building built in anticipation of the redevelopment effort. Planners envision restaurants, shops, and other downtown living amenities that will include the nearby community library annex.
Owners of the 140 parcels Beechwood will acquire to make way for the project expressed concern over their future. Many have been in the community for years and will have to start all over in higher-cost areas. Dubb said they are meeting with the owners individually to work out purchase arrangements, with Panico assuring them that the deals will be “financially advantageous.” Some worried that the town could exercise its right of eminent domain and seize the properties with terms set by a judge if an agreement to sell is not reached.
A big piece of the development puzzle is being worked out, with Suffolk County putting up $20 million for the sewerage required for a project of this size. Attending the meeting was county Legislator Jim Mazzarella who noted that the effort will also bring sewer service to the businesses north of the Beechwood project, a strategy meant to spur the revitalization of these areas.
Panico acknowledged that traffic is an issue of concern but said it should not be used as an excuse to shelve the redevelopment. “I can’t solve the traffic problems of the Mastic Peninsula alone,” he said, noting that state and federal support is needed to create alternate routes. “The state and the Long Island Rail Road have a one-size-fits-all mentality regarding grade crossings. They want to go either under or over the railroad tracks, which would be nearly impossible to create new ways out of this community.”
Responding to concerns about loitering and vagrancy in the Neighborhood Road corridor, the officials expressed confidence that a revitalized downtown would help alleviate the problem.
Residents are encouraged to go to BrookhavenNY.gov to provide their views on the project.