New Senior Condo Plan To Go Before Southampton Village Board This Week

A proposed 56-unit multifamily senior housing development will go before the Southampton Village Board this week, and the trustees are expected to schedule a public hearing on the application.

The development would be located on Moses Lane south of County Road 39 in Southampton. The applicants—Jim Tsunis, on behalf of property owners Helen and Edward Corrigan and Beach Plum Meadows LLC—are asking the Village Board for a special zoning designation to clear the way for the project on approximately 11 acres, changing the half-acre residentially zoned property into a multifamily planned residential district.

The application, which was filed at Village Hall on December 20 by attorney Gilbert Flanagan of Southampton, will go before the Village Board for the first time on Thursday, January 9. If the change of zone is eventually approved by the Village Board, the project would move on to the Village Planning Board for further review.

“This is the first time it is going before any of the boards,” Southampton Village Mayor Mark Epley said this week. “I want to go through the public hearing process and see where the entire project is.”

According to Mr. Epley, because the property is in an R-20 zone, the landowners would normally be allowed to build one house on every half acre, allowing 22 building lots. However, under the village code, developments within a mile of the village business district—which this property is—on a case-by-case basis can include up to six units per acre, bringing the total number up to 56, with the approval of the Village Board.

The idea, Mr. Epley said, is that residents of such a development would be able to go to and from village businesses without taking up parking spaces.

If the project is approved, it would be the first senior housing development in Southampton Village. Although within the village boundaries, the development also would lie within the Tuckahoe School District, contributing to the Tuckahoe School tax base without adding any students to the enrollment, since it is designed as senior housing.

According to the application filed with the village, the owners propose to construct 14 two-story buildings with four units each. Each building would include a two-car garage and a basement. A clubhouse, 112 parking spaces and a large swimming pool also are proposed.

This week, Mr. Epley said he would not share an opinion of the project until after it has been presented to the Village Board on Thursday. He added that, although there are rumors the project is being spearheaded by his father-in-law, George Benedict, that is untrue, and Mr. Benedict has no affiliation with the project.

“I don’t want to pre-judge this project,” Mr. Epley said. “We want to make sure the designers are designing attractive buildings, and from what I have seen, the materials they are using and the designs they have shown us, they are all very much Southampton Village.”

The project will be introduced to the Village Board on Thursday, January 9, at 6 p.m. at Village Hall on Main Street.