Residents fight bid to turn farm into apartments

The Colonial Springs Farm in Wheatley Heights has offered pumpkin picking and hayrides for 31 years, but now its owners want the Town of Babylon to rezone the property so they can build an apartment complex.

News 12 Staff

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Mar 8, 2016, 5:33 PM

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Updated 3,113 days ago

The Colonial Springs Farm in Wheatley Heights has offered pumpkin picking and hayrides for 31 years, but now its owners want the Town of Babylon to rezone the property so they can build an apartment complex.

Gustave and Carol Wade want to turn around half of their 32-acre farm into 264 rental apartments, and neighbors are putting pressure on the town's planning board to reject their application.

Opponents to the proposed complex say it would bring traffic and noise into the community while destroying open space.

But despite the protests over quality-of-life issues, the Wades insist their plan would help the area.

"This project will actually serve a much needed rental demand in the town," says the family's lawyer, John Wagner.

The plan calls for 16.4 acres on the farm's southern end to be redeveloped into the complex, while retaining the northern 15.5 acres as agricultural land.

Officials have not announced a timetable for the decision on the rezoning application.