Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory's housing plan gets OK from Oyster Bay Cove zoning board
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory is attempting to convert this old mansion on an 11.75-acre property to serve as staff dorms. Credit: Peter Frutkoff
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory's bid to lodge postdoctoral fellows on the grounds of a former school dormitory in Oyster Bay Cove won approval from the village's zoning board following a contentious, nearly five-hour meeting.
The board's 5-0 vote followed a tense meeting at the private East Woods School in Oyster Bay Cove. The plan still requires approvals from the village planning board as well as the board of trustees.
The research facility purchased the 11.75-acre Sandy Hill Road property in January 2024 and plans to rehabilitate the historic main house to house postdoctoral students there. After village residents complained about the proposal in January, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory scaled it back. The new proposal would allow 28 total laboratory workers to reside there, down from 30. The facility also promised to reserve property on its grounds for parking rather than build new spots immediately.
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory's $2 million plan to house new staff members is part of a $500 million expansion. The work is expected to be completed by late 2026 or early 2027, laboratory officials said. Advocates say the housing is needed to attract top candidates to the facility, while some local residents say it will cause traffic and environmental problems near residential neighborhoods.
WHAT NEWSDAY FOUND
- The Village of Oyster Bay Cove's zoning board of appeals approved Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory's plan to house up to 28 postdoctoral fellows on a nearly 12-acre campus.
- The plan still needs approvals from the village's board of trustees as well as the planning board.
- Some neighbors said they worried the plan would increase congestion in the village. But laboratory officials said boosting housing for its fellows is critical to recruitment efforts.
The proposal generated controversy in late January when protesters gathered outside the property after the laboratory filed amended site plans for the revamped housing facility. The protesters said they did not know that the village, in 2023, had changed its zoning code and paved the way for postdoctoral fellows or higher education faculty to live on the property. The previous code only allowed for primary or secondary school students to live there, according to Oyster Bay Cove Mayor Charles Goulding.
Laurel Kretzing, an attorney representing some neighbors opposing the project, said the laboratory shouldn’t be given special considerations. She also said the plan would "drastically change the neighborhood character."
But Joe Tymeck, who lives on Sandy Hill Road, said he would consider himself "lucky" to have the fellows as neighbors. "I think they're probably going to be a lot busier curing cancer and Alzheimer's than creating mayhem in the neighborhood," he told board members Tuesday night.
New conditions
Until recently, the property was home to Harmony Heights, a high school for girls with social and emotional needs.
The zoning board of appeals approved a special permit for the property that allows the laboratory to house postdoctoral students at the property. The village on Tuesday also required the laboratory to satisfy a list of conditions, including limiting the number of visitors the residents can have and restricting how long the visitors can stay to five consecutive nights. The laboratory must show the village every three years that its complying with the regulations.
Opponents of the proposal have likened the move to “spot zoning,” where a municipality creates new zoning rules for property that is different from nearby ones — often favoring a single entity, according to the New York State Department of State. That process could be illegal, according to the agency, if the changes aren’t part of a “well-considered and comprehensive plan calculated to serve the general welfare of the community.”
The proposal has riled up some residents of the village, with a population of 2,067, according to 2023 census estimates. But Goulding has defended the village's handling of the issue. The zoning changes were laid out in a village newsletter and discussed during a public hearing and village board meetings. At Tuesday’s meeting, village attorney Chris Wagner said “all relevant, proper procedures were complied with.”
The main home on the property was built in 1910 and known as the Wrexleigh Estate. The main house has dark wooden features inside and ornate candle fixtures. The laboratory plans to restore those features alongside renovations to the building's worn-out interior.
Housing on Long Island can be expensive for early-career scientists and attracting quality candidates to the North Shore is difficult, Steve Monez, the laboratory’s vice president of facilities, said. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory lodges scientists and researchers on its main campus and at four other locations, and housing agreements at the Sandy Hill Road property would run about $1,500 a month for the postdoctoral students, according to Lisa Cruz, a laboratory spokeswoman.
Monez said during the hearing that once postdoctoral students are recruited, it is "very hard for them to come to the North Shore of Long Island and find housing that is affordable to them."
Daniel Milazzo, an Oyster Bay Cove resident, said he worried that the laboratory's use of shuttle vans would cause a nuisance. “This isn’t JFK or LaGuardia,” he said at the meeting. “I want it to look like a quiet village.”
The laboratory hired a traffic consultant to assess whether the plan would increase congestion in the area near the property, at 57 Sandy Hill Rd. The consultant, VHB Engineering, found the plan would not negatively affect traffic patterns in the area, Patrick Lenihan, director of transportation for the firm.
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