Mr. Losquadro said Tuesday that the developers will now move forward with an as-of-right application to build 47 single-family homes on the 34-acre property located behind McDonald's on Route 25A, where it connects with Hallock Landing Road. A yield map for an as-of-right proposal could be submitted to the Brookhaven Town planning department as early as next week, Mr. Losquadro said.

"They backed off the PDD because the community didn't want it," Mr. Losquadro said. "They said all along that they only want to build what the community wants them to build."

And for the past several years, that was believed to be the PDD, which would have led to the construction of 239 housing units on the property. About 80 percent of those units would have been age-restricted (55 and older).

The PDD received support from leaders of the Rocky Point Civic Association, who were attracted by the fact that the Fairfield project would have required construction of a sewage treatment plant. The thinking was that the sewage treatment plant could also have been used to accommodate downtown revitalization efforts in Rocky Point.

Civic members and residents were also enticed by a public benefits plan that would have led to the construction of school office space. At one time, the project even included a community swimming pool that was expected to be built on a 6.4-acre portion of the site and then donated to the Rocky Point School District.

But as the project stalled -- slowed in part by a draft environmental impact statement that was rejected by the town -- community receptiveness soured. The civic association even voted to oppose construction of the PDD at a meeting last month. That decision came after residents flooded the meeting at the VFW Hall, and an earlier meeting hosted by the North Shore Beach Property Owner's Association, to complain about the plan.

North Shore Beach president Linda Albo called the developers' decision a victory Tuesday.

"They really listened to the community," said Ms. Albo, owner of Albo Real Estate.

Michael Armando, who help organized the Rocky Point Residents Action Group to join the fight against the PDD, said he opposed the project because of its potential traffic, safety and tax impacts. Mr. Armando cautioned other residents in recent weeks that a sewer district in Rocky Point could negatively impact taxes. He also said he felt too many vehicles would be spilling out of the proposed Fairfield entrances on Route 25A and Hallock Landing Road.

"It was too dense of a project," Mr. Armando said.

Supporters of the PDD, however, have long argued that a predominantly age-restricted PDD would have better served the community from a school tax perspective, since senior communities generate fewer school-age children than single-family developments.

But Mr. Losquadro said that in the end it was clear the majority of Rocky Point residents preferred to see the developer move forward with an as-of-right application.

"In turned out that at the end of the day, there was not the community consensus everyone once thought," Mr. Losquadro said.

gparpan@northshoresun.com

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