Jan. 24 update: Town supports plans for mixed-use development in Elmont

Nearly 200 local residents attended a hearing held by the Town of Hempstead board on Jan. 24, regarding a rezoning proposal for Elmont’s stretch of Hempstead Turnpike. Four days earlier, Supervisor Kate Murray and local representatives councilmen Ed Ambrosino (R-North Valley Stream) and James Darcy (R-Valley Stream) announced they'd recommend the inclusion of mixed-use development in the proposal to the entire town board during the hearing. To the satisfaction of every local resident who publicly spoke during the hearing, the three board members stuck to their promise, voting unanimously to include the mixed-use amendment in the plan.

In December, the town announced that it would evaluate a new zoning proposal to support growth along Hempstead Turnpike, from the Queens border to Franklin Square — a move that many locals had been working on for more than a decade. However, the announcement spurred backlash from several community members who have been working for several years on revitalization efforts in the community, who said that the plan was incomplete.

Despite using the Elmont Coalition for Sustainable Community’s Vision Plan — developed in 2006 — as the basis for its proposal, town officials and planners from Saccardi & Schiff Inc./VHB initially decided to exclude one of the coalition’s major rezoning components: mixed-use, or commercial-residential, development.

Instead, the plan focused on commercial development, incorporating several sub-districts in order to increase building density and height along Elmont’s business corridor — two Shopping Center sub-districts, one on the north side of Hempstead Turnpike, and the other on the south side of the street, near Butler Street, to  encourage the development of big-box stores; two Neighborhood Center sub-districts, one near the Argo Theater site, and another on the south side of Hempstead Turnpike, near Meacham Avenue, to help encourage density and promote pedestrian traffic; a Gateway sub-district to allow a greater mix of development on the south side of the turnpike, near Belmont Park, encouraging more retail and residential development; and a Highway Business sub-district to encourage development that is “cohesive” with the community.

Finally, the proposal includes a new zone, "Potential Future Belmont Park," to allow new development at the racetrack and surrounding area, but is not connected with any specific plans. “It lets people know that we know there is a large parcel here,” Deery said, “and that it is on our radar screen and the board stands poised to address any proposals.”

According to town spokesman Mike Deery, Murray, Ambrosino and Darcy decided last week that they would support a designation for mixed-use property in “some portion of the zone” at the hearing on Jan. 24. “The supervisor spoke with both of the councilmen and said, ‘This is something we can do now, and we need to do it,’” Deery said, adding, “This is a positive step in the process.”