Gun spa gets new hearing date

A public hearing is set for May 2 for a proposed gun establishment. The Lynbrook Village Board will vote on the future of the project immediately after the hearing.

“The applicant wanted [the hearing] to be tonight, but we told everybody it isn’t tonight,” Lynbrook Mayor Bill Hendrick said. “They had withdrawn that application … and they had to reapply and put it back on again, and they’ve done so.”

A spokesman for the company was unreachable for comment as of press time Tuesday.

“The board has heard everybody’s concerns on this. We’re very, very attuned to the residents’ concerns,” Hendrick said. “We’ve heard them all, we have the petitions, we’ve forwarded the petitions on to the applicant so they know how the public feels and they know how we were told the public feels. They must know that by now.”

Hendrick added that, in the future, Buildings Superintendent Brian Stanton would announce all new business applications sooner, to keep the public better informed.

“We feel that maybe some people felt they could’ve gotten a little bit more information,” Hendrick said.

The Sport Spa is a proposed replacement for Cutler’s Lighting, located at 817 Sunrise Highway. The facility would have a gun and archery range, a retail sporting goods and gun store, a live-action shooting simulator, training classrooms, and a hair and nail salon. CEO Pamela Newman held an informational panel on March 21, which was attended by residents coming to and from a Village Board meeting that was being held at the same time.

Mike Stillwell, who works for a firearms technology company, Action Target, said that the shooting range would be in the basement, and the facility would be virtually soundproof. Kristopher Williams, a ventilation systems engineer, explained the mechanics of an air-filtration system that would guard against any environmental hazards, such as lead contamination.

According to Bill de Seve, an agent at Breslin Realty in Garden City, there are 12 gun stores operating in Nassau County, but Newman acknowledged that there is no comparable business model in the area for what she is proposing: a combination of archery, a shooting range, a gun store and a spa.

“I’m concerned that there are no other places like this that anybody can make a comparison to,” said Toni Holder, a Lynbrook residen. She added that she was primarily concerned with the location choice and nature of the business. “I don’t think it should be squeezed into a spot that isn’t large enough.”

Holder is among several hundred who have been added to a growing petition in protest of the business. An updated petition is expected to be presented to the board in front of the business owner on the night of the May 2 hearing, scheduled for 8 p.m.