Apartments: When is Enough, Enough?

 Apartments: When is Enough Enough?

Published in Letters to the Editor, Port Times Record, March 27, 2025

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I want to thank,  Councilmember Jonathan Korneich for his article in this week’s edition of TBR News Media, Port Jefferson Record Times (March 13), titled, “Your Turn: Overdevelopment will not solve the affordable housing Crisis”  

The article supports my ongoing concern that Port Jefferson Village should stop approving permits to build new apartment buildings. 

I recently tried to obtain the number of apartments and the number of residential homes currently in Port Jefferson Village and was told that the village does not have this information. I must ask how the planning board can make educated rulings if they don’t even know how many exist and what the Village Master Plan considers the maximum that should be allowed. If there are no limits, the trend will just continue until Port Jefferson has lost all the charm of a small, historic village.

From my research, the Village of Port Jefferson already has over 1,100 apartments located in apartment buildings. This doesn’t include the three apartment buildings now being discussed in the planning department and all the apartments that exist above the stores in our downtown and uptown. 

We are a small village and 1,100 + apartments is more than the village can hold and still maintain its history and charm. I imagine that compared to other villages and hamlets in the area, Port Jefferson Village outshines them in trying to meet the needs of people who find home ownership unobtainable.

I believe that the residents of Port Jefferson Village need to decide if they want to maintain what’s left of the Village’s history and charm or continue the trend of building massive apartment buildings and maybe one day being the new “Queens or Brooklyn” of Long Island. 

We will only be able to stop this trend by ensuring that we elect village officials who will determine the number of apartments existing and the number that is acceptable. I believe something is lacking when no official in the village can easily obtain this information nor provide a number that a Master Plan states is acceptable. 

Rob Grimm

Port Jefferson resident