Amityville strategizes plan for $10M awarded to improve downtown

The Village of Amityville is holding a community forum Tuesday to discuss possible uses of $10 million in state money the village received to help improve its downtown.

The money was awarded in January as part of the Downtown Revitalization Initiative. The village will also receive help from a team of private-sector and state agencies with the goal of creating a plan and completing projects within a relatively short time frame.

Mayor Dennis Siry said the state wants to see the projects chosen by July and completed within two years.

“I don’t know whether that’s realistic, but it would be great if it could be done,” he said.

An 18-member Local Planning Committee of leaders and residents, which was put together by the state based on recommendations from the village, will vote on which projects to pursue. Siry chairs the committee with Theresa Sanders, president and CEO of the Urban League of Long Island.

This is the fourth time the village pursued the competitive pot of state downtown funding. Siry credited work done over the past four years as likely boosting Amityville’s application this time, including parking and traffic studies, apartments completed two years ago near the Long Island Rail Road station and luxury apartments and town houses being built on the former Brunswick Hospital site.

In its application, the village identified several parcels that could be used for transit-oriented development and proposed other improvements, such as creating pocket parks and installing free public WiFi.

Siry said his vision is to get the village’s downtown “about halfway to about what Patchogue is” due to Amityville’s smaller size. He envisions a lively corridor with restaurants and mom-and-pop businesses, as well as a cultural aspect to it.

“Whether we do something in the park or take one of the old houses and make it into a playhouse, I’m not sure” he said. “But I think you need that for a good downtown. Everyone can go somewhere to eat, but you’d like to have something else to do, too.”

Siry said valet parking may need to be introduced, and some have suggested creating a trolley service to take people from parking lots to the downtown. He said he also wants to improve walkability and incorporate traffic-calming features.

“All of these other downtowns that are thriving, every one of them is a two-lane main street, and we have a four-lane highway coming through our downtown,” Siry said.

The revitalization community meeting is the first of three planned, with the next ones in May and July. The planning committee will hold public meetings starting March 30. Residents can also submit suggestions at www.amityvilledri.com.

Tuesday’s meeting is at 7 p.m. on Zoom via www.amityvilledri.com

By Denise M. Bonilla

denise.bonilla@newsday.comdenisebonilla

Denise Bonilla has worked at Newsday since 2003 and covers the Town of Babylon, including the villages of Lindenhurst and Amityville.