Terry Street, House Demolition and Four Corners Discussed at Village

While the postponement of the Four Corners plan was a focus of Monday's Village Board of Trustees meeting at Patchogue Village Hall, the board also discussed proposed changes to Terry Street and the possible demolition of an historical home for a parking lot.

The trustees unanimously approved the motion to turn Terry Street into a one way street going east from South Ocean Avenue to Taylor Lane, and Taylor Lane one way going south. Mayor Paul Pontieri said that this change to Terry Street would address safety issues and would create parking.

Gail Hoag of the Greater Patchogue Chamber of Commerce said the intersection of Terry Street and South Ocean has been an issue. Hoag said at least two cars have tried to go up the steps of the on South Ocean Avenue that she attends, but luckily nobody was hurt during these incidents.

After a brief discussion among board members about possibly imposing a surcharge on village residents who exceed their sewage waste limits, Mayor Pontieri announced that the board would making a decision on approving the to the Four Corners plan until March 1 at a special Village Board of Trustees meeting.

Until that meeting, the board has the opportunity to meet again with TRITEC and the planning board.

Trustee Crean thanked the board for more time and for TRITEC's patience in this matter. "I'm looking forward to a continuation of discussion in a more formal setting," he said. Crean also said that while the board still may not all agree on the proposal, they were going to follow process and wait until the public has had plenty of opportunity to be heard.

The Village will accept written public comment on the proposed Four Corners plan until Feb. 14.

Business Improvement District (BID) Executive Director, Dennis Smith, addressed the board of trustees with a brief report on the last BID meeting. Smith said that the committee discussed ideas for new Christmas decorations and costs. He also said that BID is beginning to campaign and market for the 2010 New York State Main Street Grant that Smith says is designed to target distressed areas in the village that need redevelopment. He said during a recess of the meeting on Monday night that with the 2008 grant of $200,000 being turned into over $1 million worth of improvement to the village, he was looking forward to see what could be done with the $500,000 2010 BID grant. "I think it's going to be easier to market this grant simply, because of the previous campaign," Smith said.

Village Attorney Brian Eagan addressed the board with a layout of an application that he said is pending before the Architectural Review Board (ARB) to convert a residence in the RPO district, or a portion of it, to a parking lot. Eagan said the ARB said the application was incomplete and was going to be sent back.

"At least from my analysis, it doesn't appear the parking lot is a permitted use in the RPO district, " Egan said.

Mayor Pontieri said that it wasn't the board of trustees' decision to be made at this time but opened the hearing for public comment.

Resident Milly Puig said that she and several other residents have formed petitions to prevent this house, which she says is historical, dating from the 1800's, from being demolished to put a parking lot in its place. "I don't think that would benefit the community by knocking that down and putting in a parking lot," she said. Puig said the homeowners recently moved this past Thanksgiving, and the home was in fairly good condition. Mayor Pontieri said that the home actually has some serious structural problems.

Residents continued to share their opposition to the home being demolished until the meeting wrapped up a little after 10 p.m.