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Southeast Town Board Approves Rezoning For Crossroads 312

SOUTHEAST, N.Y. -- The Southeast Town Board approved rezoning for the Crossroads 312 proposal at a special meeting on Thursday, town officials confirmed.

A rendering of a retail building for the Crossroads 312 project in Southeast.

A rendering of a retail building for the Crossroads 312 project in Southeast.

Photo Credit: Provided
A rendering of the proposed 100-room hotel for the Crossroads 312 project in Southeast.

A rendering of the proposed 100-room hotel for the Crossroads 312 project in Southeast.

Photo Credit: Provided

The vote was 3-1, according to officials, with Deputy Supervisor Robert Cullen, Councilwoman Elizabeth Hudak and Edwin Alvarez voting in favor of the rezoning.

Supervisor Tony Hay was the lone vote against the rezoning, while Councilwoman Lynne Eckardt was absent, according to officials.

Approval of the rezoning means that the site, which is about 51 acres, will be switched from the Rural Commercial (R-C) zone to the Highway Commercial (HC-1) zone.

Crossroads 312, which is a mixed-use proposal from local developer Harold Lepler, includes a 100-room hotel and 143,000 square feet of retail space.

The project has drawn mixed and heated reactions locally. Proponents support it as a way of generating additional tax revenue, to create jobs and to have a hotel in the area. Opponents, however, voiced concerns about traffic, emergency response times as well as visual impact.

The Town Board is not done with its review of the project, however. The next step will involve the board reviewing the proposal's site plan, according to Hay, who spoke with Daily Voice on Friday afternoon.

The Town Board, in a resolution, also voted to give itself site-plan review authority for large retail projects, according to Hay. The action is a transfer of authority from the Planning Board. However, the Planning Board will continue to have it for other types of projects, according to Hay.

The supervisor, in a statement provided, argued that benefits such as tax revenue, jobs and rooms for guests would still come if the site was developed under the RC zone. He also called for having the developer to post a security, such as a bond, to guarantee construction of a hotel within a decade. 

Daily Voice left a message with the public relations firm that has done outreach in favor of the developer to see if a statement would be issued, but no response had been received by time of publication.

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