Sound plan for Shoreham village center

July 3, 2007 - Newsday

We can't stop the march of the McMansions unless we can embrace smarter growth patterns: fewer large single-family homes and more walkable, mixed-use village centers. But the resistance to that change won't abate until we show that these new forms can really work.

So the Town of Brookhaven and the Central Pine Barrens Joint Planning and Policy Commission have an important set of decisions to make about a proposed new community in Shoreham called Tall Grass. It has the potential to be the first major model of a new village center. And it makes far more sense than the 283 large homes that the developers are entitled to build without a zoning change.

That "as-of-right" development, on 320 acres that include a golf course and a sod farm, would produce 428 school children and an annual deficit of $4.5 million for the Shoreham-Wading River School District.

Instead, in consultation with the community, with the help of a smart-growth group, Vision Long Island, the developers want Brookhaven to rezone the land for greater density by creating a planned development district. It would include a walkable village center, with retail and office space, plus 378 homes. The design and expected buyers of the homes would limit the number of school children to 127 and produce a net positive tax flow of more than $400,000 for the district. The plan would keep the golf course. And, instead of cesspools, it would use a new sewage treatment plant - better for groundwater.

Since it's in the compatible growth area of the pine barrens, the commission must approve. That will be complicated. But this is a reasonable proposal. If the town and the commission green-light Tall Grass, it would be a fine first step toward smarter growth.

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