New Melville Starbucks proposal on Route 110 requiring code change sparks opposition

A group of Melville residents are pushing back against a developer’s plan to convert two properties on Route 110 into a retail space and a Starbucks, a proposal that would require a zoning change.

Jericho-based developer B2K is seeking to change zoning from residential to commercial for two houses on Route 110, also known as Walt Whitman Road, that is adjacent to Gwynne Road. The developer wants to combine the lots at 945 and 937 Walt Whitman Rd. to build an 8,750-square-foot one-story retail building and a 2,450-square-foot Starbucks drive-thru.

The combined lot, at 1.81 acres, on the west side of Route 110, would require zoning change approval by Huntington Town Board.

Residents along Gwynne Road, which has 13 homes, say the proposed buildings would create additional traffic on their dead-end street, contribute to noise and light pollution and destroy wildlife habitat, among other quality of life issues.

“This would absolutely destroy my quality of life,” Dorothea Fitzsimmons, 63, said in an interview. 

“I won’t be able to use my outdoors because of fumes, a line of dumpsters and I’ll be subject to car radios and Bluetooth speakers for 16 hours a day,” said Fitzsimmons whose home would be the closest to the Starbucks.

Fitzsimmons said Melville residents have started two petitions, including a Change.org petition seeking to prevent the rezoning, which has garnered 116 signatures.

At an Oct. 8 public hearing on the zoning change, several speakers spoke for and against the proposal. 

Mike Florio, an East Northport resident and CEO of Long Island Builders Institute, spoke in favor of the proposal saying the development would offer jobs and additional food choices and would be a good use of property on a busy thoroughfare.

“It’s reasonable and sensible,” Florio said of the proposed zoning change.  

Brian W. Kennedy, an attorney for B2K, said while the properties are zoned residential, both have been used as offices legally and illegally for several decades. 

“Route 110 is one the most heavily trafficked roadways in the town of Huntington,” he said at the hearing. “That is one of the many reasons why commercial and industrial uses are appropriate on the 110 corridor and not single-family residential uses.”

The Starbucks drive-thru would have one lane that would allow for 30 vehicles, Kennedy said. Access to the properties would be at the existing traffic light on Route 110 where westbound Northern State Parkway motorists exit to Route 110. The proposed redesign would eliminate one existing curb cut on Route 110, Kennedy said. 

Kennedy said B2K is offering buffers, including a 15-foot-long landscape of “densely planted” mature screening trees” and sound barriers, including an 8-foot-tall, 300-foot-long fence.

The proposed project would use an on-site wastewater treatment system to treat on-site waste, Kennedy said.

Sheldon Sackstein, owner of 945 Walt Whitman Rd., and Kevin Meyer, owner of 937 Walt Whitman Rd., could not be reached for comment.

Gwynne Road resident Cindy Mara cited several vacant stores and delis, bagel and coffee shops along the Route 110 corridor.

A scan of coffee shops along the Route 110 stretch between Jericho Turnpike and Pinelawn Road/Sweet Hollow Road shows there are three Starbucks cafes in the area, including one in the shops at Walt Whitman. 

“There’s clearly no need for an additional coffee shop,” Mara said at the hearing.

Johanna Suchow, a member of the Sweet Hollow Civic Association Board, read a statement on behalf of the association during the hearing that said in part, “the proposal presents concerns about the safety of this project at an already busy intersection of 110.”

The board has 90 days to vote on the zoning change application from the date of the public hearing.