Storm Raging Over Proposed OB Condo
By David Crohn
Controversy continues to swirl around a proposed bayfront condominium in Ocean Beach.
Corneille Estates resident Rick Kushner wants to buy 932 Bay Walk, level the two-and-a-half story frame house and put up a larger building that will be sold piecemeal to owners who could then rent the spaces out.
Before Kushner will do that he needs approval from the Ocean Beach Village Board of Trustees to grant a special use permit allowing a multifamily dwelling in the residential district. The planning board, which reviews permit applications and then makes a recommendation to the board of trustees for final approval, is backing the development.
The board was prepared to settle the issue with a vote at its monthly meeting Saturday, May 20. But when critics of the deal filled the public hearing to say the proposed condo will be a bayfront eyesore, the board tabled the vote.
“Change is a good thing,” said resident Linda Taylor, “but when we’re doing it with fragile things, change must be wrought from quiet, restrained, from-the-heart thinking.”
According to documents obtained by The Fire Island News, Kushner’s plans call for a 5,272-square-foot building with three two-bedroom apartments on each floor. Currently, the 2,869-square-foot structure has four bedrooms on the top and three on the bottom.
And although the new building will be only two stories high, village codes call for it to be closer to the bay, and Matthew’s Restaurant owners and employees say it will block their customers’ view of the water.
“I don’t want to see the sunset sold to the highest bidder,” said Jimmy Fesselmeyer, a Matthew’s manager. He and about a half-dozen others came to the meeting wearing matching T-shirts emblazoned with the words “Save the Sunset.”
Supporters of the development include Shirley Wersebe, the current owner, and village officials who would like to see that area of the village cleaned up—as well as more tax revenue for village coffers.
“I look at that building and I see a tired old lady,” said Wersebe, who lives next door. “I’d like to see her put to sleep and something nice put up.”
Supporters also point out that many of the most vocal critics have been property and business owners closest to the area.
Driving tensions on both sides of the issue is this: although the spot is zoned residential, it’s surrounded by restaurants, making it easy for supporters of development to justify another business venture in the area.
“It’s a de facto commercial zone regardless of what it’s called,” said Constantine Karalis, Kushner’s architect on the project.
Built in the 1920s, the building has been owned by Wersebe’s family since 1937. Over the years, it had been a grocery store and a fish market before being converted to apartments in 1968. Still on the market, its current asking price is $1 million, Wersebe said.
Kushner said he hopes to sell the condos to two types of people: “Retired people who have a house and can’t handle it anymore. My other goal is to sell apartments to younger people who can’t afford to buy a house anymore.”
Patricia Stretch, who owns the building that houses Matthew’s, has hired a lawyer in her effort to stop the deal. Vincent Messina, of West Islip, said in a statement that the building would significantly increase the amount of solid waste production in the area. He also said the proposed heating, ventilation and air conditioning units would adversely affect air quality and noise levels.
Most importantly, Messina said, no environmental review has been conducted in connection with the application. Village code 7-725(b)(8) states that the board “shall comply with the provisions of the state environmental quality review act under article eight of the environmental conservation law and its implementing regulations.”
Said Messina, “All we’re asking is that the required hard look be taken. Maybe it’ll be favorable to our client, maybe it won’t. We suspect it will.”
The board is set to vote on the issue at the next village board meeting, June 17.
Since two trustees will abstain from voting, the two remaining trustees and the mayor will have to reach a unanimous decision for the permit to be approved. Trustee Jim Mallot, whose wife was the broker in the deal, recused himself, as did Trustee Steve Einig, a lawyer representing Kushner in the deal.
At the meeting and in follow-up interviews with board members it was unclear how the board would act.
“I have to do what is legally right,” said Trustee and Mayor-elect Joe Loeffler at the trustees meeting. “And I have to put aside my opinions.”
