Moratorium proposed by Town of Hempstead is bad for Baldwin

The Town of Hempstead passed a resolution at the April 5th meeting to hold a public hearing session at their April 26th meeting to establish a moratorium on the Baldwin Overlay Mixed Zone District. The stated reasoning for this decision was that the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) process, which basically is the environmental impact statement review processes for these types of rezoning, was not done properly

The Baldwin community has been waiting for smart and good economic growth for over two decades and was looking forward to a good start after the resolution for the Baldwin Overlay Mixed Zone District was passed back in January of 2020, more than two years ago. A final SEQRA or FGEIS was adopted unanimously on December 20, 2019, by the Town of Hempstead Council. The SEQRA process was conducted by VHB Engineering, Surveying, Landscaping Architecture and Geology PC, a firm which has vast experience in doing this process for many Long Island towns. Similar FGEIS have been adopted such as the Master Plan for Mineola and the recent Island Park’s TOD Master Plan. The Town of Hempstead must have had high confidence in VHB’s work since they were recently hired to administer the DRI’s Community Fund as well.

The entire legal and fully compliant SEQRA processes can be reviewed on the Town of Hempstead’s website. The rigorous processes that took several months covered all aspect of the environment impact statement.

What has not been done properly by the Town of Hempstead is the implementation of a Design Review Board which should have been established as soon as the resolution creating the Baldwin Overlay Zone was passed back in January of 2020. The law required the appointment of a three-person Design Review Board by the Town of Hempstead Council. In more than two years since its passage, the council has not done that. Currently, there are four to five major developments in the pipeline with proposed plans and ready to put shovels on the ground within the Baldwin Overlay Mixed Zone but have not been reviewed and are stuck in limbo since there is no Design Review Board.

Supervisor Don Clavin’s attitude at the April 5th meeting seemed to be that another year in the process is not a big deal. But it is it stifles economic growth and the opportunity for developers to gain interest in developing in our community. Developers carry at least the cost of taxes and insurance on the land and see no return until their building project is done. At this point, and if the moratorium is passed, the Baldwin Community will not see any development built for another four to five years since they have to go through a design review, approval process and the actual construction. The Baldwin community has been waiting far too long to yet another “kick the can down the road” situation.

The Baldwin Overlay Zone was developed with the input of the Baldwin Civic Association and the Baldwin Chamber of Commerce who both worked with the Town of Hempstead to craft a plan that would fast track and streamline the proposed buildings’ approval process. New York State saw this as a highly innovative plan to revitalize Baldwin’s Downtown area thus awarding Baldwin a 10-million-dollar Downtown Revitalization grant in 2019. The DRI grant planning has been instrumental to incentivize potential developments with major structures ready to be built. the moratorium will definitely create a negative atmosphere and possibly discourage development all together, let alone not knowing what kinds of amendments the Town of Hempstead will implement during the moratorium.

The redevelopment process in Baldwin has already been delayed by COVID for two years. What’s another unnecessary year? A lot when you have been waiting decades to see the revitalization for your hometown.

The Baldwin Chamber of Commerce has scheduled a meeting on April 14 at 7 p.m. at the Baldwin Library to discuss the proposed moratorium and how to respond as a community. Members of the Baldwin Civic Association will be there, and all interested parties are urged to attend. We also encourage Baldwinites to attend the Town Council meeting on April 26 at 10:30 a.m. at Town Hall to protest further delay in redevelopment. You can also visit the Town website at hempsteadny.gov/ to send a message to Supervisor Clavin, Councilman Carini, Senior Councilwoman Dorothy Goosby, Councilman Anthony D’Esposito and the other members of the Council to express your desire to get the redevelopment moving. Working together will help to get this sorely needed redevelopment started.