Two Village Boards Are Redesigning the Drive Out of Belle Terre This Fall

Two changes to the drive in and out of Belle Terre are moving through public meetings this fall, and two different governments are deciding them. Inside the gate, the Village of Belle Terre Board of Trustees has approved new speed tables for Cliff Road and Club Road. Down at the corner of Belle Terre Road and Myrtle Avenue, the Village of Port Jefferson Planning Board is reviewing a new turn signal and a disputed sidewalk. Both are tied to a condominium project on the former Maryhaven property.

Belle Terre voters choose the first board. They have no vote on the second. The road that carries the village's name into Port Jefferson is about to change at a meeting Belle Terre residents can attend and speak at, but not decide.

The arrow proposed for Belle Terre Road at Myrtle Avenue

The application is PB-0766-25, filed by Beechwood Port Jefferson LLC. It covers the southwest corner of Myrtle Avenue and Belle Terre Road, the site of the former Maryhaven Center of Hope. The September 10 Planning Board agenda describes 77 for-sale condominiums in twelve two-story buildings, plus a two-story clubhouse, outdoor amenity space, internal roads and parking. The July 9 minutes put the count at 76, so the number has shifted by one during the review. The property was rezoned from Professional Office to Moderate Family Residential before this site-plan review began.

For drivers, the most important part of the file is the intersection plan. At the August 20 hearing, Pat Lenihan, Director of Mobility at the engineering firm VHB, said the project would add a turn arrow for drivers heading north on Belle Terre Road and turning left onto Myrtle Avenue. A board member raised a concern about eastbound Myrtle Avenue, where drivers going straight and drivers turning share lanes. Lenihan answered that the plan adds pavement arrows farther back and a lane-designation sign. That would let the northbound left-turn arrow and the eastbound right-turn arrow run at the same time.

According to the minutes, engineering drawings for the signal work are "forthcoming." As of today the arrow is a proposal described at a hearing. No approval is on record and no installation date has been set.

The sidewalk that still has no route

Myrtle Avenue is where the review has stalled. The plan calls for a new sidewalk on the south side of Myrtle Avenue, starting at High Street and running east to the elementary school. Paulina Giampietro, representing Beechwood, told the board she had met with Port Jefferson's DPW superintendent about it.

The trouble is space. Richard Rosenberg, counsel for the applicant, said the team was "balancing" tree removal against the effect on nearby property owners. A surveyor had been hired to measure the width of Myrtle Avenue and find out whether the sidewalk could fit within the public right-of-way, so that no neighbor's permission would be needed. One board member noted that the sidewalk could end up on another owner's land. Another said it would need tree removal and a retaining wall, and said he was not comfortable moving ahead while the question was open.

Port Jefferson's Board of Trustees, which Rosenberg called the decision-making body on the sidewalk, sent an email on July 20 asking for alternatives. The applicant is now drawing five of them, each showing grades, the right-of-way line and estimated tree loss. The minutes add that the site-plan approval should be conditioned on settling the sidewalk issue.

So the Belle Terre Road signal and the Myrtle Avenue sidewalk are part of the same approval, and the sidewalk question is holding up the whole file. The hearing opened July 9 and was continued to August 20 and then to September 10. The September 10 agenda lists the next meeting and public hearing for Thursday, October 8, 2026, at 6:00 p.m. Official minutes from September 10 had not been posted when this was written, and no record we reviewed shows which of the five alternatives, if any, has been chosen.

What a 12-to-18-month build would mean at the corner

Neighbors have already asked about construction traffic. At the July 9 hearing, a Myrtle Avenue resident raised concerns about traffic, the demolition schedule, sidewalks and possible narrowing of the road. Michael Dubb responded that most demolition was done, including removal of contaminated drywall. He said construction trucks do not use Myrtle Avenue, remaining demolition would take about six weeks, and overall construction would take 12 to 18 months. He added that staging would sit out of public view.

That estimate has no start date. The building phase cannot begin until the Planning Board approves a site plan, and that approval depends on the sidewalk. The village's own records also disagree on who owns the parcel. The September 10 agenda lists St. Charles Hospital & Rehabilitation Center as owner, with Beechwood as contract vendee, while the August 20 minutes list Beechwood Port Jefferson LLC as owner. Until an approval is on record, the 12-to-18-month window has not started.

Inside the gate, the board is slowing traffic down

Port Jefferson's work at the corner is about moving turning traffic through faster. Belle Terre's own board spent the summer on the opposite goal, slowing cars down on its own streets.

At its July 21 meeting, the Belle Terre Board of Trustees voted unanimously to let Mayor Bob Sandak sign an agreement with LKMA for professional services on placing speed tables. At the same meeting, a resident objected to the proposed speed table on Cliff Road, saying it would slow emergency vehicles. Mayor Sandak replied that speed tables were the most effective option, since the village had tried other traffic-calming measures without success. At the August 18 meeting, Trustee Michael Solo reported that two more speed tables "will be installed on Cliff Road and Club Road."

The road surface is changing too. In August, Mayor Sandak said July's storms had made conditions difficult at the beach and on the roads. In July the board moved money from the NYCLASS Storm Damage Assignment Fund into the beach budget to pay for beach repairs. By August 18, Solo reported that erosion, pothole and road-edge repairs were finished. Repaving of Buena Vista Road and Harbor Hills Drive was "scheduled to be done." August's minutes are the latest posted, so the timing of the repaving and speed tables has not been confirmed in writing since then.

Here is how the two boards' work compares:

The rest of the summer projects, and where they stand

The same August report covered other village-owned spaces. The pickleball court resurfacing was finished despite weather delays and staffing problems at the vendor. In June, Solo had said resident-only signs and a no-bikes-or-scooters sign would go up after resurfacing. The August minutes don't mention the signs. In July the board also accepted a memorial bench to be placed at the court.

The Community Center ice machine has gone the opposite way. The June minutes said it had been ordered. By August, Trustee Leza Di Bella reported that the water and electric lines were in, but the village was "still looking to purchase" the machine.

The beach has closed for the year. Trustee James J. von Oiste reported that lifeguards would be off duty after August 30 and that the cabanas would come down the third week of September. The Belle Terre Youth Program reached capacity at 100 morning and 100 afternoon campers, with residents able to register their children in February.

Four dates in October

The gateway hearing, the village meeting and two weekend events all fall within twelve days.

• Thursday, October 8, 6:00 p.m. The Port Jefferson Planning Board meeting and public hearing, where PB-0766-25 is expected to return. The July 9 record shows input beyond Myrtle Avenue neighbors, including a letter of support from the Chamber of Commerce submitted by a resident who lives near the village boundary.
• Saturday and Sunday, October 17 and 18. The Greater Port Jefferson Chamber of Commerce's Port Jefferson Harvest Festival. The Chamber's self-guided Fall Art Walk runs October 9 through November 6.
• Sunday, October 18, 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Pumpkin Carving at the Belle Terre Community Center, 55 Cliff Road. Belle Terre Community Association memberships for 2026 are $25 for an individual and $50 for a family, and you can sign up at the Gate House.
• Tuesday, October 20, 8:00 p.m. The next regular Belle Terre Board of Trustees meeting, where the speed tables, the repaving and the ice machine are likely to come up in the commissioners' reports.

If you'd like to know how a pending project like Harbor Cove at Maryhaven, or new speed tables on your street, could figure into a sale or purchase in Belle Terre, Kenny Calderon and Team Calderon follow these hearings and can talk through what they mean for your property. Start with a Free Home Valuation, and we'll walk you through what's on the record.