A drive for more parking spaces

Parking remains in the forefront of plans for a proposed new five-story building that will house Woodmere Rehabilitation Center & Health Center at the northwest corner of Franklin Place in Woodmere.

A Sept. 15, Town of Hempstead Board of Appeals hearing regarding multiple variances for the planned new structure was postponed until Nov. 10, where the Woodmere Merchants Association will seek more area parking.

The original plan first presented four years ago called for the construction of a six-story garage that would have created up to 30 parking spaces for area patrons was scrapped due to opposition by residents on Hartwell Place, the street immediate north of Franklin Place.

“I don’t blame them,” said endodontist Dr. John Santopolo, the incoming president of the Woodmere Merchants Association, whose Franklin Place practice abuts the current Woodmere Rehab Center.

“It is a very attractive building and will be a benefit to the community,” he said referring to the planned new center. “For most merchants the biggest concern is parking.”

The Town of Hempstead requires 225 parking spaces, but the rehab center’s application is calling for 134. In purchasing two separate parcels on Franklin Place — one where the Five Towns Senior Center was and the other a former car dealership — center officials think they will create enough parking for their employees and their residents’ visitors. Both buildings will be demolished and the lots will have an ID swipe-card system.

“We will have enough parking spaces to satisfy our needs,” said Wayne Edwards, the Mineola-based attorney who is representing the center. “We can’t have an employee or visitor buzzing around for a space. We hired a traffic consultant to look at what our needs are and 134 spaces satisfies our needs.”

The new plans also call for a reduction in the amount of residents as the pair of buildings; the main one on Franklin Place that was built in 1973 and the Irving Place building that was constructed in 1964, house 336 residents and the proposed structure will hold 280. It is the only nursing home in the Five Towns community. The center and its 400 full-time and part-time employees is a boon to the local merchants.

“This facility is the largest employer around, it is an economic generator for this area,” Edwards said.

For center Administrator Mitch Teller, the new building will eliminate current inadequacies from transporting people and equipment through an underground tunnel to increasing living space for residents due to updated codes. “As an administrator you have a wish list and we have that opportunity, it is a very exciting time,” Teller said.

But for area business people it comes down to parking. "No one has a problem, except for the amount of parking,” said Dr. Santopolo, who added that he would like to see at least another 40 parking spaces, added. “It is very well thought out with a pass-thru with no ambulances or delivery trucks blocking the street.”