At the Oct. 18 public meeting, B.I.T.I., the firm that hopes to construct row houses in downtown Roslyn, made another presentation before the Village of Roslyn board of trustees.

This time, B.I.T.I. offered to build a large pond on the row house grounds, with a bridge crossing over the man made body of water. It was suggested by a BOE member that B.I.T.I. should instead build not one large pond, but two ponds.

There will be more presentations and discussions regarding the row house plan at the next BOE meeting, set for Tuesday, Nov. 15. At that meeting, B.I.T.I. officials are expected to present a plan in a 3-D or three dimensional setting, one that will give both BOE members and local residents a better feel to what the revised plan will look like. B.I.T.I. officials also hope to present further plans on both the elevation of the row house plan and the development's streetscape viewing.

The minor proposals made at the last meeting were only one in a series of revisions to the row house plan. As reported in recent issues of The Roslyn News, B.I.T.I. has scaled down the number of housing units it wants to construct from 126 to 80.

The proposal is scheduled for land on the east side of Roslyn Creek, between Skillman Street and Old Northern Boulevard.

The Village of Roslyn Board of Trustees has allowed B.I.T.I to use that proposal as the basis for an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) study.

Under New York State's SEQRA provision, a developer must conduct a thorough study of their plans to see what effect it will have on the local environment, including any changes in traffic patterns.

At meetings held in the summer and fall, B.I.T.I. officials have claimed that it was possible to construct up to 160 units on the site in downtown Roslyn. According to William Cohn, a principal for B.I.T.I., reducing that number down to 80 represented a "substantial cut" on the part of his firm.

Meanwhile, BOT members have continued to reiterate their support for the proposal. Members of both the Roslyn Landmark Society and the Roslyn Preservation Society have issued joint letters expressing their concerns over the proposal and calling for an updated Master Plan, one that could be "consistent with applicable law," while "[focusing] on preserving and enhancing the historic district and [keeping] pace with....the various environmental changes to the area."

B.I.T.I. officials have also expressed their unhappiness with calls for a building moratorium by both the village's Historic District Board and Planning. Such officials have suggested that B.I.T.I. could take matters to Federal District Court if progress on the proposal was not forthcoming. For their part, BOT officials have expressed their own hope for progress on the row house plan.