Government

Greenport Village Planning Board approves 620 Second St. site plan

JENNIFER GUSTAVSON PHOTO | The Greenport Village Planning Board approved Thursday a site plan for 620 Second Street.

The Greenport Village Planning Board approved Thursday a site plan for 620 Second St. that was destroyed by a fire in 2008.

The Planning Board approved the plan, 4-0. The Rev. Ben Burns was absent from the meeting.

The housing alliance, a Greenport-based group that finds affordable housing for low-income residents, has owned the house since 1993. It also owns the property next door at 618 Second St. The home on that site also burned in the August 2008 blaze and was subsequently demolished.

Although severely damaged, the house at 620 Second St. was initially spared because the NFHA believed the three-family structure could be saved.

Renovation work began in February — nearly three and a half years after the fire — once the village cited NFHA and ordered it to stabilize the structure.

Shortly after construction began, work ceased because engineers found that the structure couldn’t be saved.
The NFHA then determined the charred shell of a house couldn’t be salvaged and demolished the structure in May.

Garrett Strang, a Southold-based architect who was hired to design the houses, spoke prior to the vote and said his new site plan places three parking spaces at the rear of the property. The change was made after the Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals expressed displeasure with the original plan to place the parking area at the front of the house.

Village officials said construction could start today since the site plan has been approved.

Read more about this story on Oct. 11 in The Suffolk Times.

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