Mixed-use apartments and 55+ units pitched for Southold
A developer has submitted plans for a mixed use building along Main Road in Southold under the name Hard Corner Partners LLC.
The vacant 2.28-acre parcel is located at the corner of Main Road and Wells Avenue in the Hamlet Business zoning district, across the street from the Feather Hill complex.
According to town Planning Board documents, the project would consist of 4,983 square feet of ground floor retail and three affordable apartment units on the second floor. Two apartments would be 938 square feet and one would be 953 square feet, according to the plan.
The proposal also calls for four 1,597-square-foot detached residential rental units along Wells Avenue that would be reserved for those ages 55 and older. Each of those units would have their own driveway and a parking lot with access on Wells Avenue is planned for the retail and apartment building. The applicants have proposed 30 parking spots, two of which will be ADA-compliant. Twenty-eight are required by town code.
While reviewing the application during a Zoom meeting Monday, town planner Brian Cummings outlined several missing items in the incomplete site plan that must be addressed before the project can move forward for review.
Several key maps providing details about adjoining properties are required, as well as a survey of existing mature trees, dimensions, landscaping plans and a completed environmental assessment form.
In addition, Mr. Cummings said retail and commercial projects must meet certain standards with regard to its facade, awnings and signage. “We’ll need a bit more information on that,” he said. “How the building works along the Main Road landscape.”
The proposal is within lot coverage requirements, with only 13% proposed and 40% of coverage allowed.
Planning board member Mary Eisenstein asked for more information about the building elevations. “Would you be considering the historical look of the hamlet of Southold as you start thinking about what this is eventually going to look like?” she asked architect Robert Brown and Charles Salice of Hard Corner LLC.
“Absolutely,” Mr. Brown, who has previously served on the town’s architectural review board. “I would anticipate that we’ll do everything we can to make it look like it belongs in the town of Southold,” he said.
Charles Salice of Hard Corner LLC was also on Monday’s Zoom call. In 2018, the developers pitched a similar idea for a former bank building on Love Lane in Mattituck.
The Southold project is the subject of a town Zoning Board of Appeals hearing at 2 p.m. Thursday. The developers need a variance since the property falls about 800 square feet short of the 100,000 square foot lot-size requirement.
