An update on the Beechwood redevelopment of the Neighborhood Road Business District was the main topic at the regular meeting of the Chamber of Commerce of the Mastics and Shirley.
Representing the developer was Project Director Elysa Goldman, who fielded questions about the timing of the project, the property acquisition process, and what businesses would be featured in the new community. According to Goldman, an impact review is underway to explore concerns such as traffic, infrastructure, and emergency services, all of which could lead to changes in the design once the process is completed.
The 40-acre downtown redevelopment is expected to begin next year in five phases, heading west from Doris Drive and ending at Maywood Road. Goldman explained that it will be a mix of rental and owner-occupied residential units and retail space in buildings up to four stories high, a town square, and wide walking spaces to create an open, welcoming feel. “We want a thriving downtown, a place where people want to be.”
Responding to a chamber question about which existing businesses will stay, Goldman said, “We don’t want to recreate what’s already there. The whole point is to create something new.” It’s been decided that Dick’s Bait and Tackle and Fratelli’s Pizzeria will be part of the new layout, while requests by other establishments are pending, she noted.
Beechwood has made “substantial” progress negotiating with the 143 owners to acquire their property, Goldman reported. They have the option, as the Master Developer appointed by Brookhaven Town, to initiate eminent domain proceedings where a court decides on a selling price if an agreement can’t be reached. “Eminent domain is not something we want to do,” Goldman told the chamber. “We want to be fair and sensible to each property owner’s unique situation.”
Key to the new development is sewer service, which Beechwood is putting in place with the help of the town and Suffolk County. A six-acre parcel for a treatment plant has been identified at Brookhaven’s Patriots Preserve Park, formally the Links golf course off William Floyd Parkway in Shirley. It’s expected to serve the Beechwood community along with a smaller business district and homes along Mastic Road.
The Beechwood rep pointed out that the developers are making stormwater management a priority. “We want clean water flowing into Pattersquash Creek,” she said of the plan’s water retention infrastructure.
Some chamber members expressed concerns over increased traffic the new development would bring, an issue that’s being addressed through the ongoing State Environmental Quality Review Act process (SEQRA). Goldman stressed that the developer had initiated a thorough scoping process with the community in designing their plan, considering input from the area’s emergency managers, schools, utilities, and other interests. The SEQRA review may necessitate changes to the development to address traffic and other concerns, according to the project director.
A chamber member requested that local contractors be afforded the opportunity to work on the new development, which Goldman said the company will take into consideration. “When they built the new warehouses along the expressway in Yaphank, they didn’t use a single local contractor,” said chamber member Efrain Santos. “They were all out-of-state workers.”