Patchogue Village has unveiled its $1.6 million plans to make Patchogue Lake more accessible to the public and improve traffic flow in the area near the future home of the Blue Point Brewery.
The project will shift to the north the location of a large, grassy median that runs between Holbrook Road — also called the spur — and add a traffic circle. The move will create parkland and increase recreational opportunities along the lakefront, such as fishing or jogging.
But there is one piece of property that’s standing in the way of the plan’s new parking component.
On the corner of Lake Street and Holbrook Road is a vacant lot just north of Bargain Bilge, which many refer to as the “Bargain Bilge Lot.”
The designs call for that lot to be used for public parking and a county bus stop, while contributing to the reconfiguration plan that’s being funded by Suffolk County.
The village had tried to acquire the property, but a price with the landowner couldn’t be agreed upon, it was revealed at Monday night’s Village Board meeting.
To move forward, the village is planning to seize the land for public use through eminent domain, with the idea that it’s for the betterment of the overall community.
It was clear Monday evening in Village Hall that landowner Athene Ziglis didn’t wish to give up the parcel she’s owned for over 30 years.
“We don’t want to sell,” she said emotionally in front of the village board.
Ziglis, who had once owned the now-closed Island Grill restaurant on Hospital Road, says she’s been trying to develop the land, but has been denied by the village.
“Anytime we wanted to do anything with the property we could not,” she said.
Over the course of years, she added, she had submitted proposals to the village, from shopping plazas to parking lots.
Now retired, that land is part of her savings, she said.
“My one child needs a lot of medical care,” she explained to the board, welling up with tears. “I don’t want to give it up, to ensure I have something for my children.”
Under state law, the village is still required to provide “just compensation” for the land, or “the same amount of money that the sale of the property would bring under current market conditions,” according to the state attorney general’s office.
The property owner can appeal that determination.
Patchogue Mayor Paul Pontieri granted 60 days for members of the public to offer comment on the takeover of Ziglis’ land.
“We need the parking and it will improve the roads,” he said.
The $1.6 million is coming through the Jumpstart Suffolk program that was introduced two years ago.
Still, the overall plans aren’t set in stone.
“It is in the development stage; a lot of things change over time,” Pontieri said.
Suffolk’s deputy commissioner of economic development and planning, Louis Bekofsky, who was at Monday’s meeting, said the lot the village is acquiring would help alleviate parking issues while improving safety concerns.
“This will give folks [including first responders] the ability, through the traffic circle, for folks to head south much quicker,” he said.
Bekofsky also argued that adding more mass transit is imperative to continuing the growth of Patchogue’s economy.
“It is very important that we’re bringing people to spend money and help local businesses,” he said.
The new bus stop would come as part of Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone’s Nicolls Road corridor initiative to provide better transportation between Stony Brook and Patchogue.
Top: An initial rendering of what the redevelopment project could look like near Patchogue Lake.
