Lawyer: Code change would lead to Woodbury warehouse being 25% smaller

A proposed change to Oyster Bay’s zoning code that would double the required parking spaces needed for warehouses and distribution centers would cause a proposed facility in Woodbury to shrink by 25%, the developer’s attorney told the town board last week.

The increased parking requirements are part of a raft of proposed changes to the town’s zoning code that were the subject of a May 10 public hearing during the regularly scheduled town board meeting.

Manhattan-based Rockefeller Group has been working with the town since last year to plan a 150,000-square-foot warehouse, the group's attorney, Philip Butler of Uniondale-based Farrell Fritz PC, said at the hearing.

“If this gets passed and they have to comply with it, they’re going to have to shrink their project by roughly 25%, they’re going to have to redesign their parking areas and they’re going to lose open space on the property,” Butler said. “There’s a cost component to that.”

The existing code for warehouses, distribution centers and storage facilities requires a minimum of one parking space per 1,000 square feet of gross floor area. The proposed change would double the parking space requirement by setting the minimum at one parking space per 500 square feet.

Referring to an earlier speaker at the hearing who said the proposed change would have constitutional issues as a government taking, Town Supervisor Joseph Saladino asked Butler if he thought the change would be unconstitutional.

Butler responded that he couldn’t say that it was unconstitutional on its face but, “that doesn’t mean it is not problematic, that does not say it doesn’t invite lawsuits.”

The company closed on the property at 1 Media Crossways in Woodbury after lengthy discussions with the planning department with the understanding that the project would not require variances, Butler said. Butler asked the town board to consider different parking ratios or a carve-out for projects like this one that is already going through the planning process.

Oyster Bay planning and development Commissioner Elizabeth Maccarone said the change would revert the code back to how it was written before changes were made in the 2000s and was based on a review of “current times” that have seen the rise of e-commerce and same-day delivery services.

Another proposed zoning change would increase the number of parking spaces at houses of worship so that it would be based on occupancy rather than the number of seats since some houses of worship don’t have seats, Maccarone said.

The board did not vote on the proposed changes and kept the record open for public comments to be submitted for 10 days.