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The team behind the proposed Tempo by Hilton in Patchogue made some design tweaks over the last five months, but traffic worries are still front and center for village officials and neighbors.
West Avenue Partners, LLC — the developers — are planning a four-story hotel with a rooftop bar at 138 West Ave., the former site of Bowl Long Island.
The property was rezoned from an industrial district to a hotel district earlier this year, and plans are now deeper into the review process.
On Tuesday night, the developers returned to the Patchogue Village Planning Board to give an update and hear public input.
And once again, traffic came up — especially on Division Street and near the Patchogue LIRR station.
“A real concern of many of the people sitting here in this audience is the fact that we have an aggressive intersection there from the railroad and the traffic getting backed up and queued so we’re looking specifically for solutions for that,” said John Rocco, the Planning Board’s chairman. “You can get stuck at that light for a very long time and with the addition of a hotel there, that’s going to be problematic.”
Ethan Schukoske, senior project manager at engineering firm TPD, presented a traffic study that compared the proposed hotel to a hypothetical, modernized bowling alley on the same site.
According to the report, a renovated alley — this is not something being proposed — would actually generate more traffic than the hotel during peak hours — weekdays from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. and 5:45 to 6:45 p.m., and Saturdays from 2:15 to 3:15 p.m.
Schukoske said a new alley would bring in about 131 cars per peak hour, with 27 exiting.
A hotel, by comparison, would see 40 cars arriving and 32 leaving.
But when Schukoske mentioned the average wait time at the nearby train station light — 135 seconds — board members were quick to challenge that.
“That is not right,” one said. “That is not even close.”
“From the time the gates go down to the time the train passes and clears the switch and opens, that may be the time you’re looking at, but that’s not the reality,” Rocco added.
Another board member said that on a recent Saturday, traffic was backed up all the way to Amity Street, and most drivers were trying to make a left turn onto West Avenue. He suggested a dedicated left turn lane and traffic signal might help.
Schukoske said his team would begin work on a new traffic report with that recommendation “right away” and return to the board at a future meeting.
Check back with Greater Patchogue for updates as the proposal progresses.
Scroll down for more previously supplied renderings from the developer’s architect, JM2 Architecture.
