Rocky Point Visioning For Downtown Revitalization Ends Successful Week of Planning
A public participation workshop, sponsored by the Town of Brookhaven and the Rocky Point Civic Association, will work on revitalizing the downtown business district. The visioning process is expected to result in conceptual plans and renderings that will guide redevelopment. Importantly, all stakeholders will be involved and will work together with civic leaders, Town officials, local businesses, residents, and the community at large. The event is being held this week. The first session took place on Wednesday evening, October 10th at the Rocky Point VFW Hall.
A rainy autumn night didn’t deter the throngs of people coming to the opening session; a line of people streamed out the door of the VFW Hall and soon grew into a standing room only audience. In addition to the packed house of business leaders and residents, several elected officials made an appearance at the meeting and spoke on the importance of the visioning process. Brookhaven Town Supervisor Brian Foley, Legislator Dan Losquadro, and Councilman Kevin McCarrick spoke in support of the project and its process,emphasizing the potential for existing and new partnerships to improve the quality of life in Rocky Point.
Rocky Point Civic Association President Diane Burke opened the meeting with a warm welcome and handed it off to Eric Alexander of Vision Long Island, who began with a presentation on the downtown area, past projects, and future possibilities. Alex Latham, Principal of ADL III Architecture, presented on the technical design aspects of downtown revitalization and provided examples of downtown revitalizations with successful implementation of Smart Codes and Master Plans. Following these introductory slide shows, the community offered their “Hopes and Horrors” for their downtown. A colorful board of drawings and wishes, made by the local Girl Scout troop suggested their own hopes, such as an ice cream parlor, puppy store, park, bookstore, and movie theatre. Adults from the community echoed some of the younger generations’ hopes, such as much needed downtown housing, a community center, bus shelters, and many other places and amenities that would create a renewed sense of place. The town produced pages of hopes to draw from and only a small number of horrors, such as the need for proper sewage treatment, parking, and the present neglect of several existing properties downtown. From these hopes and horrors, the community voted on locations that they would like to see preserved and those that they would like to change to achieve their vision.
On Saturday, October 13th, about 100 residents spent a beautiful fall day designing plans for the future of Rocky Point. The day kicked off with an informative presentation on retail prospects for Rocky Point by retail expert Seth Harry. That was followed by a walking tour of the business district. After lunch, provided by Tommy’s Place, residents broke down into small groups and worked together to design what they would like to see happen for the future of downtown Rocky Point. Each group presented their ‘visions’ at the end of the session. With this information, the design team worked tirelessly over the next few days to create renderings and plans from the community’s visions.
Eric Alexander and Rocky Point Civic Association President Diane Burke kicked off the final presentation meeting on Wednesday, October 17th at the Edgar School. Brookhaven Town Councilman Kevin McCarrick spoke on the enormous progress of the Vision since the last meeting and delivered energy-saving lightbulbs to all of the community residents in attendance.
The presentation focused on six goals for the future of the Visioning project.
ADL III Architecture, led by Alex Latham and design team Elissa Ward, Ela Dokonal, and Catie Ferraris, worked with retail and Smart Growth expert Seth Harry to create the renderings and design guidelines that were mapped out by the community the week before. Those plans were revealed during the presentation.
All renderings by ADL III Architecture and Seth Harry.
Aerial of study area with overlays of proposed development and revitalization.
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CVS Pavillion and Farmers Market.
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Proposed new entry onto Broadway.
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Broadway, looking north.
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"Cottage Court" housing.
Elevation of proposed "Cottage Court" housing.
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Eastern Town Center & Nature Walk.
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"Main Street" (25A), looking east.
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Town green with community center.
Street statistics for Broadway.
Retail guidelines from Seth Harry, of Seth Harry & Associates.
After the presentations, there was another period of questions, answers, and comments. The community residents in attendance were enthusiastic, offering suggestions for improvement and refinement of the plans. Town of Brookhaven Councilman Kevin McCarrick commented that he would be pushing to get the first stages of the Vision implemented by the end of the year.
Visit Vision Long Island's new YouTube channel on the web to view exclusive clips from the Rocky Point Visioning process. Be sure to check back for regular updates.
Click here to see comments from Brookhaven Town Supervisor Brian Foley, Councilman Kevin McCarrick, Councilman Dan Losquadro, retail expert Seth Harry, and civic and community leaders from Rocky Point.