Brookhaven OKs zone change for retail, housing at Port Jefferson Station shopping center

A plan to redevelop an aging Port Jefferson Station shopping center with new stores and more than 200 apartments edged forward after the Brookhaven Town Board approved a key zoning change. 

The plan calls for fewer stores at Jefferson Plaza, a 1950s-era strip mall, and the addition of up to 280 apartments — including 56 for people with developmental disabilities. Jefferson Plaza, located on a 10.4-acre site at the intersection of Terryville Road and Route 112, opened around 1959 and is among Long Island's oldest strip malls.

The redeveloped plaza will bring much-needed housing to the hamlet and give the shopping center a fresh look with a food court and new restaurants, according to officials from Staller Associates Realty, the shopping center's Islandia-based owner. The shopping center has 10 tenants, several of which are planning to leave, Staller Associates vice president Valentin Staller said.

Some Port Jefferson Station residents and civic leaders say they support the redevelopment. But the proposal includes too many apartments and will generate traffic problems in the area, they said. The plan calls for four-story buildings, which are too tall for the area, according to some residents. 

The town board voted 6-0 on Thursday to change the property's zoning to the new Commercial Redevelopment District. The town adopted that category in December 2020 to revitalize languishing business properties such as malls and bowling alleys. The designation allows developers to add housing to areas zoned for retail and office use. Jefferson Plaza is the first project to be designated for commercial redevelopment zoning. The rezoning allows Staller to add residential units to the mall, which was previously zoned for business and retail use only, officials said.

"We understand that a lot of people are looking to us to be leaders in the revitalization project," Staller said. "We want this to be a community hub, something that’s very exciting and [that] people will want to go to."

In December, the town board postponed a vote on the zone change amid opposition from community members over the scope and size of the proposal.

"I think it’s horrible," Jerry Maxim, a member of the Port Jefferson Station-Terryville Civic Association, said in an interview. "I think the Town of Brookhaven is going to give them [Staller] a blank check, [and] they can do whatever they want."

Ira Costell, the civic association's president, said the group had tried for more than a year to raise concerns with Staller officials without success.

"We went nearly 21 months without any real direct engagement whatsoever on this project," Costell said. "We want to find a way to get behind this proposal, but we believe this process has really failed us."

Decisions about building heights and the number of apartments will be made later, Staller said, adding: "This isn’t a final site plan."

Town officials said there will be public meetings at which residents can weigh in on the final proposal.

Town Councilman Jonathan Kornreich, who represents Port Jefferson Station, said town officials will consider residents' concerns during the next phase of the review. The town needs to approve the site design, including what materials are used, as well as lighting, signs, parking and other issues, Kornreich said.

"The area is badly in need of redevelopment and revitalization," Kornreich said. "It’s always a challenge balancing the needs of the community and the desires of the developer."

Richard Murdocco, a Stony Brook University public policy professor and author of "The Foggiest Idea," a local planning blog, said the new zoning category "makes sense" and could spur similar redevelopment across the Island.

"You are going to see more of this," he told Newsday. "Brookhaven is putting its foot forward and it’s going to set a precedent for other municipalities to follow."

Port Jefferson Station resident Lois Fricke said refurbishing the mall is long overdue.

"It’s a beautiful project," she told the town board on Thursday. "We can’t keep looking at this blighted area. We need to have it fixed."

By Carl MacGowan

carl.macgowan@newsday.comCarlMacGowan

Carl MacGowan is a Long Island native who covers Brookhaven Town after having previously covered Smithtown, Suffolk County courts and numerous spot news and feature stories over his 20-plus year career at Newsday.