The Village of Mineola is holding a public hearing Wednesday night for a special permit application that would allow the construction of a four-story residential building on Jericho Turnpike at the current site of Piccola Bussola.
If approved, the project would be the first to be in the new Jericho Turnpike overlay district, one of two the village board established last December to give Mineola more flexibility when considering future developments.
The restaurant, located at 159 Jericho Turnpike, was destroyed in an August 2020 electrical fire along with four apartments on the second floor. Rebuilding the restaurant is not possible because the building itself predates the village’s current building codes, according to village officials.
The application, submitted by Pasquale Investor, would create a four-story building with 27 parking spots on the ground floor and 18 residential units on the top three.
New zoning regulations allow projects to exceed the village’s maxim height of 25 feet but not go above 40 feet within the overlay districts.
Specifically, the districts take place on the strip of Jericho between Willis Avenue and Marcellus Road and downtown on Main Street, First Street and Second Street between Mineola Boulevard and Willis.
Mayor Paul Pereira asked residents during the Wednesday night board of trustees meeting to attend the May 10 hearing to ask questions about the project to the developers themselves or the board.
“If you want to ask questions, this is the forum for doing it,” Pereira said. “Please come on down to village hall and join us, we would love to have you.”
During the hearing, the board can either approve, decline or reserve a decision on the development at a later date.
In unrelated village news, Deputy Mayor Janine Sartori said The Royal Blue Residential Development on Searing Avenue broke ground.
“We are very happy to see that project moving along,” Sartori said. “It looks like it’s going to be a really beautiful, modern building.”
The development will include a six-story 101,600-square-foot building with 54 residential rental units. Six would be affordable housing units.
The ground floor of the building will include an enclosed parking garage for residents consisting of 54 spaces, one per residential unit, lobby space and other residential amenities.
Floors two through six will contain 54 units, with 46 of them being one-bedroom units and eight being two-bedroom, according to the development application. Also included is a business center, multi-purpose event space, fitness center and rooftop deck with a pool and outdoor patio space, according to the application.
Sartori added the village pool will open on June 17, summer recreation will begin on June 26 and swim lessons on June 27.
Before finishing her report, Sartori encouraged business owners to submit an application to the county to take part in the Main Street Recovery Grant Program, which Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman announced Wednesday morning from Mineola Diner.
Businesses and nonprofit organizations that experienced financial hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic are eligible for grants up to $10,000 of the $10 million total funding from the county.
