Representatives for both the Villages of Roslyn and Roslyn Harbor met in State Supreme Court in Mineola last Thursday where they were able to reach a resolution on a dispute over a traffic study concerning Sterling Glen at Roslyn, the senior living residential project set for downtown Roslyn.

In January, the Village of Roslyn Harbor had filed an Article 78 lawsuit against the Village of Roslyn with the hope of compelling the Village of Roslyn to require a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) for Sterling Glen, which was previously known as Bryant Landing.

When the suit was first filed on Jan. 16, Roslyn Harbor received a Temporary Restraining Order on any construction by the Village of Roslyn.

However, last Thursday, April 15, the two parties came to an agreement. In the terms of the settlement, as received by The Roslyn News, the Village of Roslyn Harbor has agreed to withdraw the Article 78 proceedings under the following conditions:

The non-municipal respondents (this refers to Forest City Daly, the developers of Sterling Glen) will "obtain from all governmental entities the right to install a left hand turn arrow going east on Witte Lane at its intersection with the southbound lane of Bryant Avenue."

Forest City Daly will also "synchronize the light referenced above on Witte Lane with the traffic light south of the Roslyn Viaduct located on Skillman Street to promote the orderly flow of traffic going south on Bryant Avenue."

In addition, the developers will reimburse the Village of Roslyn Harbor for the cost of a traffic expert to "review and monitor the application process and plans to be submitted to Nassau County in order to ensure proper application, drawings, installation and maintenance of the left turn arrow and synchronization of lights on Bryant Avenue and to ensure that the process is moving forward as expeditiously as possible."

Finally, Forest City Daly will "install a 'no egress sign between the hours of 7 a.m. and 10 a.m. on weekdays on its property at the intersection of Bryant Avenue and the egress point from the 50-unit senior apartment building located on the site."

According to the terms of settlement, representatives for the Village of Roslyn wanted it to be made clear that the developers are required to maintain the sign in "good faith" and that the village has "no objections to the installation of such a sign."

Roslyn Harbor Mayor Gerson Strassberg said that it was agreed that both traffic lights would be installed "as quickly as possible," namely, that they will be functioning sometime this year.

The left turn signal will be placed at the intersection of Witte Lane and Bryant Avenue near the Roslyn Viaduct. About 100 yards from that site, another traffic signal will be placed at Bryant Avenue and Skillman Street.

According to Mayor Strassberg, traffic experts representing both villages agree that the new traffic signals will move approximately 42 more cars per hour along Bryant Avenue.

John Gibbon, an attorney for the Village of Roslyn said that village officials were "very happy" to have the dispute resolved and that they now "look forward to the future of the project."

"I am pleased that this settlement has been reached," said Michael Daly, president and chief operating officer of Forest City Daly.

"I have worked for many years to ensure that this project was acceptable to all constituencies both in the Village of Roslyn and its surrounding communities," he continued. "I believe that the review process conducted by the Village of Roslyn was thorough and their determinations well founded.

"The ultimate compromise of installing a left hand arrow at the intersection of Bryant Avenue and Witte Lane was always part of the approvals, and our company agreed to make a contribution toward these," Daly concluded. "We look forward to starting construction in the near future and delivering on our promise to bring the Village of Roslyn a beautiful seniors residence and a publicly accessible waterfront park for the first time in more than a hundred years."

Meanwhile, Mayor John Durkin of Roslyn said that the resolution of the settlement has also meant that the developer's fund with the village has also been settled, thus allowing the village to balance its 2004-05 budget without raising taxes. The budget was passed at the village's April 20 meeting. There will be more details in next week's issue of The Roslyn News.