Plan to convert East Islip bowling alley into senior living facility advances despite opposition

The Town of Islip has approved a zone change that will allow an application for a senior living facility in East Islip to move forward, despite opposition from the community.

Applicant BSL East Islip LLC requested to change the site from partial commercial zoning to a district designated for senior living, and modification of covenants and restrictions for the two-story proposal, which would be built on the site of long-standing bowling alley East Islip Lanes. The senior living community would offer 90 beds at a cost that would range between $8,000 and $10,000 per month, according to an attorney representing the developer at a recent town meeting.

East Islip Lanes opened in 1960, Newsday has previously reported, and has served as a cornerstone of community functions for decades. Bowling alley owners could not be reached for comment Tuesday. 

Property records show that Rudolph Gibiser sold the land in 1996 to AAA Alley Associates Inc., a corporation formed in 1989. The corporation in 2016 then made an interfamily transfer.

Many residents have voiced their opposition to the proposal, and some have organized a Facebook group dedicated to rallying against the plan. A petition advocating against the facility has garnered more than 1,700 signatures.

At a recent meeting, residents packed Islip Town Hall to voice their opinions on the application. Although many were there to protest the potential zone change, many others, including those from a local plumbers union, indicated support for the facility and highlighted the job opportunities that would be created.

The project would “create a lot of jobs and a lot of opportunities for people on Long Island to continue working on Long Island. And it's already hard enough to live out here as a young person,” said Joshua Rodriguez, 23, an Islip Terrace resident and second-year apprentice with Local 200.

Support for the project, however, was equally met with opposition from East Islip residents.

“It's mind boggling to me that this proposal even got through planning,” said Dana Ehlich, secretary of the East Islip Chamber of Commerce and president of the Chamber’s beautification committee.

“It needs to be made smaller. The footprint is ridiculous,” she said, adding that the price per month for seniors to stay in the facility is out of reach for most East Islip residents.

Other speakers also expressed concerns about the size of the facility, as well as its potential impact on traffic, parking, noise and property values in the area.

Attorney Michael McCarthy, who represented the developer at the meeting, said the facility would be designed with architectural features that would match other structures in East Islip, and at least 30 parking stalls would be set aside to assist neighboring businesses.

As a result of community outreach, the developer also decreased the building’s size and oriented it toward Main Street, he said. A traffic study indicated that traffic generated by the facility would be 30% less than the traffic produced by the bowling alley, he added.

McCarthy also argued that the current zoning of the 4.3-acre property is “very permissive,” and could allow for a medical office or fast food chain with little opportunity for the application to be denied.

In an interview, he said the property's new classification is "more consistent with the residential zoning of the neighborhood." The site's previous "large business classification" could "invite a lot of different uses that might be more impactful to the neighborhood," he added.

"The bowling alley has made the decision to sell," McCarthy said. "That conversation about saving the bowling alley doesn't really resonate because that's not happening." 

The next step for the proposal is a site plan application to the town planning board, McCarthy said.

By Brianne Ledda

brianne.ledda@newsday.com@brianne_ledda

Brianne Ledda covers the Town of Islip for Newsday. She previously covered Southold and Greenport for The Suffolk Times and is a graduate of Stony Brook University.