Civic Association Seeks Volunteers to Serve on Hub Study Committees

A community-based planning process is under way to explore the ways the Port Jefferson LIRR station and surrounding areas can be redeveloped, but it needs community members to serve on committees to guide that planning process.

That's according to the Port Jefferson Station-Terryville Civic Association, which presented the "Port Jefferson Station Commercial Hub Study" to its membership on Wednesday night. The study will encompass the stretch of Route 112 between Hallock Avenue and Route 347 as well as the surrounding areas on the east and west sides of Route 112 and south of the LIRR station.

"We're not looking to do a study with the 30 people who are here at the civic meeting every month," civic association president Ed Garboski said. "We're looking for what the community wants. We want the community to be involved."

The hub study consists of a Citizens Advisory Committtee, chaired by Charlie McAteer, and several committees that are broken down as follows:

• Commercial & industrial Zoning
• Traffic, Pedestrian Safely and Transportation
• Design, Aesthetics and Architecture
• History
• Housing & Residential Needs
• Stony Brook University Housing/Transportation Components

"We are looking to come up with potentials," McAteer said. "We are not looking to design anything, we are looking to see what can be done. That’s why these six groups are important."

The goal of the study is to improve the area through zoning changes and smart planning that will ultimately attract private investors and business owners to come in to build or re-build.

"If the community comes up with a viable plan and the community is behind it, the investors will come," Garboski said.

He added: "If you don't think you know anything about zoning, that's OK." If people can't physically attend the meetings, he encouraged people to join the committees "electronically" by sending their ideas, observations and comment to his email address, edpjtcivic@aol.com.

The goal is also to compliment the work being done by the village of Port Jefferson to improve the area known as Upper Port.

Town councilman Steve Fiore-Rosenfeld, who secured $75,000 in funding from the town in order to conduct this study, said there needs to be "joint work" from both communities in order to be successful.

"The goal is to get the community input as to what you’d like to see," he said. "It’s got to be economically real."

Thomas Chawner of Brookhaven town's planning department said it is important to promote the residential integrity of the neighborhood while redeveloping the area surrounding the train station. He compared the situation to the villages of Patchogue and Farmingdale, which he said have done some smart planning.

"I think it’s very important that the scale not be out of proportion. This is a suburban environment," he said. "This is not Ronkonkoma, this is not the city of Glen Cove, this is not Mineola."

The Citizens Advisory Committee meetings are open to the public; the next one is set for April 3 at 7 p.m. at the Comsewogue School District administrative office on Norwood Avenue.