Decision on Brooklyn Water Works site delayed

The Freeport Landmarks Preservation Commission’s decision on a proposal for a large apartment complex on the old Brooklyn Water Works site has been postponed until next month to give an attorney newly assigned to the commission time to review the case.

Huntington developer Gary Melius consented to allowing the commission to adjourn the decision until Oct. 4 to give the commission time to review evidence submitted at the public hearing on Sept. 8.

The commission will also review the plan’s environmental impact study with attorney Thomas Pantelis, of Mineola, who was appointed on Thursday as counsel to the commission.

“I agreed to an adjournment as a show of good faith,” Melius, who owns Oheka Castle in Huntington, said Wednesday. “I believe I will prevail if they follow the law, and after such a long time involved in this project, I felt it was the right thing to do.”

The plan calls for a six-story building at the historic site with 121 apartments and ground-level parking for 200 cars at 25-01 Brookside Ave., next to the Long Island Rail Road. The original building was granted village landmark status in 1986 and demolished for safety reasons last summer.

The village’s planning board will have 30 days from Sep. 12 to appoint a lead agency to review the application, said village attorney Howard Colton.

The board has indicated it wants to be lead agency, but it is still awaiting responses from more than a dozen agencies such as the Town of Hempstead Zoning Board and Nassau County Planning Commission.

The board has the ability to assign itself as the lead agency, Colton said.