Kings Park master plan gets Smithtown board approval

The Smithtown Town Board on Thursday approved a master plan for development in downtown Kings Park that will serve as the basis for future projects.

The board vote was unanimous, 5-0.

The goal of the master plan is to set the stage for a walkable downtown area that attracts residents and visitors for decades to come, officials have said. The plan establishes a new downtown zoning district that promotes mixed-use development and increases density in some areas. It also suggests connecting properties inside the commercial corridor to a new sewer system. The plan also calls for improvements to sidewalks and roads. 

The master plan also recommends capping building heights in the downtown area to three stories and 40 feet. Four "opportunity sites” for future retail and housing development are also identified in the document, including the municipal lot on East Main Street, two areas on Meadow Road West and the Kings Park Plaza.

  During a January public hearing on the plan, residents were divided over the best way to map out Kings Park's future. Some speakers said the hamlet needed more apartment complexes. But others said they worried about overcrowding and traffic congestion downtown.

Smithtown Supervisor Ed Wehrheim said the plan had been years in the making. With the expansion of sewers headed to downtown Kings Park, a new master plan was crucial to realizing revitalization efforts.

“I know that there are people who oppose it, and that’s their vision, we’re not going to make everybody happy," Wehrheim said in an interview. "But there could not have been more input put into that master plan than was given by residents, by the state of New York and the Town of Smithtown, [and] by chambers of commerce over the years."

The plan also ensures there will not be overly large buildings, said Nicole Garguilo, a town spokeswoman.

“The most important thing is the master plan is a recommendation guidebook. It’s not set in stone,” she added.

Wehrheim said the plan will prevent “spot zoning,” which occurs when a municipality changes the zoning on a particular property often to a single developer's benefit. The change is usually in contrast to the zoning for other nearby properties.

“If you go to do something that the public doesn’t like, they have the ability to go back and say, ‘Wait a minute, you’re violating your own comprehensive master plan.' So it has a lot of safeguards," Wehrheim said. "Height is capped, yield is capped throughout the overlay district, so it’s never going to be overdeveloped.”

In an interview Thursday, Suffolk Legis. Rob Trotta (R-Fort Salonga) called the plan "ridiculous," saying it does little to prevent the addition of large-scale buildings.