The Mineola Board of Trustees approved an application Wednesday night for an eight-story, 119-unit building at 212 3rd St. and Mineola Boulevard.
The project, called The Bridge, features 195 parking spots underground, an event space on the first floor and 17 residential units on the second through eighth floors.
Each floor from the second through the eighth will have 12 one-bedroom units and five two-bedroom units.
The development is located in the village’s downtown overlay district, one of two the village board established in December to give Mineola more flexibility when considering future developments.
The board unanimously approved the eight-story building, one of two options the board had for consideration Wednesday night. Applicant Mineola 212 LLC first submitted an application for a nine-story, 121-unit building in the same location prior to the June 14 hearing, which was continued to Wednesday.
Village trustees had questions surrounding the height of the eight-story building, which is 88.5 feet high —— eight feet shorter than the original nine-story application.
In addition to the height, the event space was reduced from 24 feet to 14 feet between the two applications.
Resident Kathy Novak said adding another development of this size would be a quality-of-life issue for Mineola, posing a challenge for the volunteer fire department and school system.
“Progress is inevitable, but manage environmentally sound progress and not the almighty dollar of what will be judged by in the future,” Novak said.
Mayor Paul Pereira clarified that the village’s population recorded during the 2020 U.S. census is lower than the 1970 numbers even after adding over 1,000 units in the past decade.
The mayor pointed out that the Mineola school district, where Pereira graduated and now works, has graduating classes below 200 students, lower than when he got his diploma in the 1980s.
Pereira also said the process the village board goes through with potential developers that involves a back-and-forth on what developments and projects can come to the village provides more transparency than what the state previously considered ahead of adopting Gov. Kathy Hochul’s budget.
Hochul’s New York Housing Compact included local participation requirements to achieve housing growth while requiring municipalities with MTA stations like Mineola to rezone for higher-density residential development.
“I believe this process is one that is transparent and is not shoved down our throats from Albany,” Pereira said. “It’s certainly a give-and-take from people who are clearly involved in the community.”
