RSS 2.0 FeedJuly 8, 2011, Freeport-Baldwin Leader
Town unveils plan to redevelop Lighthouse Project
Development of 77 acres to work hand-in-hand with coliseum refurbishment plan.
The Hempstead Town Board recently approved a new development zone for the 77 acres of property surrounding the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum. The zone will have mixed-use development that Councilwoman Dorothy Goosby said is “sustainable and will complement the suburban character of the surrounding communities.”
This proposed development, once called the Lighthouse project because of its inclusion of two skyscrapers, will go hand-in-hand with County Executive Edward Mangano’s “Economic Development and Job Creation Plan” that refurbishes the Nassau Coliseum with a proposed $400 million of taxpayer money.
The Town of Hempstead denied the Lighthouse plan originally submitted by Charles Wang and his partner in 2009 that included a convention center, a five-star hotel, retail and office spaces and 2,300 residences.
This new development zone, now 77 acres, compared to the 150-acre development that also included the Nassau Coliseum and a minor league ballfield, is described by town officials as “flexible.”
The new development zone will have a lower density and includes a development total of 5.4 million square feet compared with an estimated 10-13.5 million square feet of development under the Lighthouse proposal. Development permitted includes convention facilities, hotels, retail, restaurants, offices, residential units and entertainment uses abutting the Nassau Coliseum.
The maximum building height prescribed under the town’s zone is 100 feet (nine stories) which applies to hotels. Mixed-use, office and most other structures are capped at four stories. Buildings which are exclusively residential are restricted to three stories. The new zone also provides for up to 500 new homes, including affordable and next generation and workforce homes.
An essential element of the town’s zoning alternative is its provision for traffic mitigation. Included in the mitigation plan is a system of roadways within the Coliseum area, “which would redistribute traffic, addressing burdens that would otherwise accompany development of this significance,” reads the town’s press release.
But Claudia Borecky, a Democratic candidate for town councilwoman, opposed the new plan, calling it “arbitrary and capricious.”
Furthermore, she believes that the “town cannot rewrite code that deviates from a proposal by a private business. The town attempted to change code that deviated from the builder’s plan to develop the Army Base in Bellmore. The court found that the town could not change code to dictate what can or cannot be built on the premises. It is my contention that likewise, the town cannot change code that restricts development at the Coliseum after the plans were drafted and public hearings were held on the Lighthouse project,” Ms. Borecky wrote in a statement to this paper.
Ms. Borecky added that the town’s new district limitations render the 77-acre parcel “economically unfeasible for smart growth.”
But town officials disagree. “Hempstead Town has worked hard to accommodate reasonable development at the site surrounding the coliseum,” stated Town Supervisor Kate Murray in a prepared statement. “Dorothy Goosby, as well as all of my colleagues on the Town Board, promised to provide for reasonable development at Nassau’s Hub; but we’ve been clear that we would only approve a zone that can be sustained by the environment and the local infrastructure. This zone holds true to those priorities while accommodating development that complements the suburban character of our area, supports our tax base, stimulates the economy, creates jobs and facilitates a new or refurbished Coliseum for our hometown hockey team, the Islanders.”
