Update: October 31, 2020: All Comments below will be forwarded to the Village of East Hills on November 5, 2020.
On Wednesday, October 21, 2020, the Village of East Hills posted the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) on the Village of East Hills website. This document provides a statement of facts, comments and responses concerning the property and will serve as the basis for the Planning Board to make a decision on the fate of the historic John Mackay III House at 2A Melby Lane. If a four-lot subdivision is approved, the historic Cross & Cross mansion will be demolished.
As described below, the public will have ten days to comment on the Statement before the Planning Board holds another public meeting to decide the fate of this historic property. Final comments may be submitted for Board consideration during this time via email to [email protected].
As noted in prior communications concerning this matter and copied in the FEIS (Comments L9 and E7), the Roslyn Landmark Society strongly opposes the demolition of the John Mackay III House. It would support a prudent and feasible alternative that retains the building and adds one to two lots to the property. This alternative would require submission by the applicant of variances to the Zoning Board of the Village of East Hills.
The FEIS states:
As noted repeatedly, the Applicants have not sought variances to allow creation of two additional lots, albeit flag lots, to avoid the adverse impact of the demolition of the historic mansion. Nevertheless, the Applicants have acknowledged that consideration of prudent and feasible alternatives to avoid or mitigate adverse impacts to the fullest extent practicable are required. Pursuant to 6 NYCRR 617.11(d)(2), the Board will issue findings including its assessment of adverse impacts as balanced against “social, economic and other considerations.”
Update: October 31, 2020: All Comments below will be forwarded to the Village of East Hills on November 5, 2020.
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Roslyn Times: East Hills Planning Board approves environmental impact statement on Mackay House
By Rose Weldon -October 20, 2020
After months of back-and-forth, an environmental impact statement in a project to demolish and subdivide property housing a 91-year-old historical building was accepted Tuesday by the Village of East Hills Planning Board.
The Mackay estate at 2A Melby Lane is owned by Steven and Wendy Shenfeld, who in 2017 sought to demolish the main house and split the property in half as part of a four-house subdivision.
Made of stone and constructed in 1929, the house was originally built for John Mackay III, grandson of John Mackay, who was among the discoverers of the Comstock silver mines in the 1870s. His father was Clarence Mackay, owner of the 648-acre Harbor Hill estate, which made up much of East Hills from 1902 to the 1940s.
Harbor Hill was left to the youngest Mackay upon his father’s death in 1938, and the estate gradually fell into disrepair due to neglect and vandalism, according to the Roslyn Landmark Society. The property’s main mansion was demolished in 1947, and parts of the area were sold to real estate developers in the late 1950s and 1960s.
Now the only remains of the Harbor Hill estate are the gate lodge, a water tower, a dairyman’s cottage, two pink marble copies of the classic Marley Horses statues, and the Melby Lane house.
The Village of East Hills ordered an environmental impact study on the project in 2017, and took control of the estate’s gatehouse in November of that year. Residents, environmentalists and local historians subsequently voiced strong opposition to the property’s demolition at Planning Board hearings.
At the meeting on Tuesday, Planning Board President Steve Kafka said that the environmental impact statement had been resubmitted “a number of times based on comments that our consultants made.”
“At our August 25 meeting, the board decided to have our consultants take over the necessary revisions of this finally rather than to continue to go back and forth,” Kafka said at the meeting, held over Zoom. “We’ve all received the latest revised draft of the final environmental impact statement in early October, and I personally am OK with the final documents.”
The documents have not been publicly disclosed.
After the board unanimously voted to approve the impact statement, Kafka said that the village’s consultants will next prepare a draft finding statement for the board’s review and consideration “at our next meeting.”
No date has been announced for the board’s next meeting.
7 Comments
All Comments were submitted to the Village of East Hill on November 5, 2020. Thanks for the feedback. Howard Kroplick
What I would do to see the original Mackay Estate!!! I grew up on Cedar Dr. , around the corner from the Dairyman Cottage in Country Estates. The only remains of the estate add so much history and CLASS to Roslyn. The Melby Lane house is breathtaking and NEEDS to remain there. There are enough homes now crammed into that part of Nob Hill, that house gives Roslyn, and all who have lived there, a magical look into what was once part of the Mackay Estate. The gate house owners should be ashamed that it is just wasting away, the property has been owned for years now and NOTHING. Keep the history ALIVE!!!
There will be a time when no tangible history remains. Is there a way to preserve so that we remember what our community looked like and how things have changed?
So little remains of the Mackay estate The 2 Horsetamer statues are reproductions The Gate House is. getting worse day by day we must try to preserve some of these historic buildings.
Matthew, thanks for the comment. Both Mackay Horse Statues have been restored from the original statues installed on the Mackay Estate in 1920. Here is a link for more information: https://www.roslynlandmarks.org/projects/mackay-horse-statue Howard Kroplick
Having moved to Northwood, East Hills, in 1955 when my Dad moved his business to Roslyn, I grew up on land that was part of the Mackay Estate. Country Estates was just being built. There is so little left of the history of the Mackay Estate and East Hills. I am saddened by the possible loss of this piece of our history. We need to preserve and respect what little remains.
if these properties are truly considered historical.
Shouldn't we hold on to history & share it with our children and grandchildren.
I would hope that East Hills residents vote against this development scheme . The area is blessed with a rich history which gives it a unique atmosphere that will be a legacy to those lucky enough to live there.