$850M Glen Cove Waterfront Project to Continue Despite Lawsuits

Updated at 7:30 p.m. Friday:

The Garvies Point Waterfront Development Project will not be derailed by the recent filing of two lawsuits by the Village of Sea Cliff, which claims that the estimated $850 million project will worsen the neighboring Village’s waterfront views.

The City of Glen Cove says the lawsuit, which was filed on Nov. 5 by dozens of Sea Cliff and Glen Cove residents, is without merit.

Philip Pidot, administrator for the Facebook group “Save the Glen Cove Waterfront,” told Patch the City’s actions to continue this plan are “troubling, but not terribly surprising.”

The Village of Sea Cliff filed the lawsuits seeking to overturn the Planning Board’s approval of an Amended PUD Master Development Plan for the project. A few points of the Village’s lawsuit was based on the belief that:

• The westernmost building would worsen views from Sea Cliff.
• The proposal violated an agreement from 2000.
• The project violates environmental law.

Sea Cliff Mayor Bruce Kennedy said the Garvies Point development is more than a Glen Cove issue; it’s a regional issue. He said he will continue to fight this “inappropriate” development from “changing our community’s character and destroying our environment.”

The following is a statement from Kennedy:

The proposed Waterfront Development Plan would significantly alter forever the character of the community and transform Hempstead Harbor, which is currently a bucolic waterfront, environmentally sensitive land into a gigantic, sprawling, and super-densely-packed subdivision with one thousand one hundred residential units, including a single structure that is 125 feet tall with a mass of 635,000 square feet.

Kennedy also said he does not want this plan to go further without conducting a study on how this project could impact the informant.

The City says Sea Cliff’s claims are regarding a prior PUD Master Plan from 2011, which approved a row of 12-story “bookends” on the west side of the project. The current Amended PUD Master Development Plan will actually “improve view sheds from Sea Cliff and Hempstead Harbor,” the City said in a press release.

This amended plan would reduce the westernmost side of the project by 270,000 square feet and consolidate it to just two building blocks. “This will completely open up the center of the Project’s west side for a new Garvies Point Park and other public amenities,” the City said in a press release.

The lawsuit alleges Sea Cliff was was not kept fully informed by the City regarding the project developments, but Glen Cove Mayor Reggie Spinello said the Village was regularly informed about the project and that the City “will continue to do so in the future.”

“My attorneys advise me that the Courts do not protect parties who sit on whatever rights they think they have, and suddenly appear years later, at the last minute trying to change things,” Spinello said in a press release.

Kennedy and the Sea Cliff Board of Trustees are interested in holding a meeting with Spinello and the City Council to try and reach consensus on how this regional development plan should be conducted. Kennedy said he would also like the mayors of the surrounding North Shore villages to participate in any discussions.

According to the City, the Garvies Point Waterfront Project will boost Glen Cove’s economy, create new public amenities and activate the City’s waterfront after decades of neglect.

The amended 1.72 million-square-foot project would include:

• 27.7 acres of open space which would include parks, marinas, a waterfront walkway, an observatory, a ferry terminal, an extension of Garvies Point Preserve and other amenities including an amphitheater.
• A total of 329 public parking spaces.
• 1,110 condominium and rental units, Newsday reports.

Pido said the project is the only way the City comes close to “plugging the multi-million-dollar hole in its 2016 budget.”

He added, “As the mayor acknowledged at the pre-election City Council meeting, without this revenue we’ll likely face millions in new debt and large tax increases. So the administration has no choice but to charge ahead and insist the lawsuits are without merit. Despite the posturing, I don’t anticipate the City will be so foolish as to ignore a court order, should a judge find further environmental review or compliance with the memorandum of understanding is required.”

The Village suit is set to be heard on Dec. 21, Newsday said.

Screenshots from the amended development plan.