Government

Gas station with convenience store and two apartments pitched for Route 48

A new proposal to convert a retail building on the south side of Route 48 in Southold into a gas station and convenience store with apartments above it is under review by the Southold Town Planning Board.

Representatives for the applicant — Jemcap SD1, LLC of Manhattan — attended Monday’s work session to discuss the proposal, which is located about 1,000 feet east of a larger proposed gas station and convenience store.

The latest proposal, named Jemcap Gas Station & Convenience Store, calls for converting the first floor of a nearly 3,000-square-foot former potato barn just west of Boisseau Avenue into a convenience store. Two second-floor apartments are also being proposed. The building has previously housed a kayak store, a thrift shop and a small gym.

The proposal includes six fuel pumps and 13 parking spaces. The 0.85-acre property is located in the General Business zoning district.

An earlier gas station proposed for Route 48, which went to a public hearing in 2015, has been in the works for a site just west of the Youngs Avenue traffic light, where Tidy Car and East End Campers are located. Sukru Ilgin plans to covert the existing 3,476-square-foot building there into a gas station and convenience store with 12 fuel pumps and 29 parking spaces.

Planning director Heather Lanza confirmed after Monday’s meeting that Mr. Ilgin has recently submitted a new Draft Environmental Impact Study (DEIS), which is required in order to demonstrate that his project can mitigate specific issues such as traffic and other environmental impacts.

Planning Board members have already rejected Mr. Ilgin’s DEIS twice, after finding that it lacked revisions they had requested.

On Monday, Planning Board president Donald Wilcenski assured Jemcap representatives that their application will be reviewed separately.

“We’re not comparing these,” Mr. Wilcenski said. “They are two separate applications and will be handled that way.”

When asked if a fuel company has been picked, Kristopher Pilles, a Jemcap representative, and attorney Patricia Moore told the Planning Board a tenant hasn’t been selected and said the proposed business will be “locally operated.”

“On the surface, this application tries to save what used to be a potato barn and reuses it to become something that resembles a country store,” Mr. Pilles said after the meeting. “In addition, we’re planning some housing, which is desperately needed. As a local, I see it.”

“It will look more like a mom-and-pop country store gas station, not industrial,” Ms. Moore said.

Mr. Pilles, a commercial real estate agent from Cutchogue, said his client has also been in talks with the Peconic Land Trust to preserve a second house on the property and relocate it.

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Photo credit: Kelly Zegers