On Wednesday, July 30, a special hearing was held for the Planning Board of Patchogue Village to consider the sole application of the Brooklyn-based Watch Hill Hotel Group LLC (a wholly separate entity from the up-scale coastal hotelier, The Watch Hill Group in Rhode Island) for a change of applicant in a hotel development project at 138 West Avenue.
Chairperson John Rocco began the meeting reading the formal correspondence from the Watch Hill Hotel Group that stated they had taken over the project from West End from developer Allon Avgi and that owners Yair Yaish and his wife, Heddy Yaish, would have a 95 percent and 5 percent ownership, respectively.
Rocco addressed social media rumors “that blew up” about Watch Hill’s possible application for tax relief. “I want to emphatically state that the Village of Patchogue, the Patchogue planning board, and no one here has the authority in one way or the other to approve, deny, or endorse that whatsoever. That is purely a function of, I believe, the town or the county, if they’re going to do anything like that.”
For applicant Watch Hill, James Manicone of JM2 Architecture DPC in Farmingville, addressed the board.
“We have been progressing towards our construction drawings. We have been refining the hotel design… as you know, we got site line approval last June and since then as we’ve made developments towards a final design, we have from the very beginning always believed this to be a community-driven hotel…This project has always been about community involvement and how experiences at and around the hotel could enhance just the positive aspect of this development,” said Manicone in his opening remarks.
Manicone said that there were ideas in mind before submitting the previous application that made this amendment application necessary.
The chief amendments were made to the roof of the building. Specifically, the plans for the roof now included a year-round rooftop infinity pool that would be 45 feet by 15 feet and four and half feet deep (for reference, an Olympic-sized pool is 164 feet by 82 feet) and a rooftop restaurant with occupancy at 150, closer to the capacity of neighboring restaurants and down from 200-plus.
The reduction of capacity at the rooftop restaurant would then offset the increase in the first-floor event space that would now have an occupancy of 250 to 300 instead of the previously approved 120 to 150. Manicone said this expansion in the event space from 3,500 to 5,000 was the result of consultations with the Hilton hotel group, which felt this was a “better occupant count” for the amenity.
The fitness room would be moved from the main level to the roof and two executive suites, approximately 900 by 1000 square feet, would be added.Manicone said that events for organizations like New York University or Stony Brook University were anticipated for the event space and that availability of an executive suite would be advantageous should a chief executive officer, or similar position, request it.
While still exploratory, there have been discussions on moving the event space currently on West Avenue to the Division Street side of the building where the retail space is located as a way to pull the event space farther from the residential area. Other benefits cited were the proximity to the outdoor space, where a pergola with motorized louvers is now to be built, and the plaza.
“There are a number of us on Amity Street who do not want to listen to DJs and have parking issues for a large event,” said board member, Eva Rodriguez-Greguski.
“I think you had mentioned Lombardi’s earlier on in your presentation…what they told us was going to happen in the event space and what has actually happened has caused the immediate area a lot of consternation. They were suddenly hosting 250- to 300-person weddings [when] they were approved for 150 or whatever it was. There were literally no places to put cars. You had valet parking everywhere in the neighborhood and in front of people’s driveways,” said Rodriguez-Greguski to Manicone, who returned to the podium after presentations from his colleagues.
She also warned that given the increase in the event space from 3,500 to 5,000, there was a possibility the occupancy would triple and be above the originally quoted 250 to 300 figure.
“It’s a lot to put on communities,” said Rodriguez-Greguski.
Manicone agreed with Rodriguez-Greguski that the concerns she raised were “legitimate” and that a plan should be in place to mitigate future issues with parking. He stressed that there were viable, alternative ways to come to the hotel for an event, e.g., the Long Island Rail Road, that would not require a vehicle. In addition, designated spots for Uber/Lyft/rideshare vehicles would also likely be in the final design.
Rocco echoed Rodriguez-Greguski’s concerns about possibly inadequate or ineffective parking measures for 250- to 300-person events and asked Manicone to have a fully fledged plan addressing the parking concerns to ease the community’s anxiety.
Community member Mary Castner, who along with her husband and her daughter all commute on the Long Island Rail Road, addressed the dynamics of the Patchogue train station parking lot.
“I understand when we’re talking about weddings, yes, those are at night. I’m pretty sure when NYU-Langone is having conferences, or Stony Brook is having conferences, and all the other conferences—the conferences are during the day. I don’t know if anyone drove by the parking lot during the U.S. Open or the Knicks parade, but for the first time we learned how small that parking lot really is,” said Castner.
Other speakers also spoke about their concerns about inadequate parking, particularly given the increase in occupancy for the event space.
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