Still room for ‘Smart Growth’

Hundreds of people, including developers, elected officials and civic leaders, attended the Smart Growth Summit held at the Marriott in Melville on Nov. 20.

The conference, hosted by Vision Long Island, focused on the state of “smart growth” projects in Nassau and Suffolk. Herald Community Newspapers was a co-sponsor of the eighth annual summit.
   
Vision LI is a not-for-profit organization that aims to help “plan, design and serve as an advocate for” Smart Growth projects, according to its Web site.

   
Smart Growth, according to Vision LI, “focuses on infill, re-development and open space preservation,” while “supporting mixed-use, mixed income communities that are convenient, pedestrian-friendly and make affordable housing and public transportation desirable and realistic.”
   
Projects in Nassau that drew much discussion were Lighthouse in Uniondale, the Alexan at West Hempstead station, the Glen Isle project at the Glen Cove waterfront and redevelopment at the Grumman site in Bethpage.
   
Representatives of the organization said that the summit allows elected officials and other stakeholders on the Island to discuss ways to keep Smart Growth a priority while pushing politics aside.
   
The keynote speakers of the summit were Gov. David Paterson and real estate executive Scott Rechler.
   
Paterson explained that smart growth projects are long-term investments that Long Island needs to survive the economic downturn.
   
“Smart Growth is addressing the progress of the future rather than the comfort of the present,” Paterson said.
  
“Downtown areas are the most important areas we can build up right now,” he said. “We’re going to have to fight for mixed-use development ... and really work to make our suburban communities more pedestrian friendly.”
   
Rechler, who along with New York Islanders owner Charles Wang, is a lead developer of the Lighthouse project, a proposal to redevelop the 150 acres surrounding what would be a renovated Nassau Coliseum.
   
While he did not address that status of the Lighthouse during his speech, Rechler, the CEO and chairman of RXR Reality, offered a bleak outlook of the economy and its impact on small businesses. He lauded the federal government for stepping in and addressing the economic crisis, saying it prevented a “horrific” collapse.
   
On a state level, Rechler said legislators in Albany need to be held more accountable.
   
In terms of Long Island’s future, and preventing the exodus of young people, “We need to reinvent ourselves,” he said.
   
Throughout several workshops, panelists noted that more teamwork is needed among developers, elected officials and residents in order to implement Smart Growth projects in different areas, especially ones that have dying downtowns.
   
Town of Hempstead Councilwoman Dorothy Goosby, who was a panelist at a breakfast panel discussion, highlighted that the town has held public hearings to keep residents involved with the Lighthouse project.
  
“No one is against development in the Town of Hempstead, but development must be done correctly, and it must be a team effort,” Goosby said. “I think it’s very important to keep the residents involved and make sure they support what is being built in their communities.”
   
In a panel hosted by Richard Bivone, co-president of the Long Island Business Council, Jeffrey Greenfield, chairman of the Nassau County Planning Commission, emphasized the importance on analyzing projects early, especially those of high magnitude, like the Lighthouse.
   
“We started reviewing it a year ago,” Greenfield said. “We didn’t want to wait for the town to pass the baton.”
   
In West Hempstead, residents wait for real-estate firm Trammell Crow Residential’s Alexan at the West Hempstead Station apartment complex to replace the crime-ridden Courtesy Hotel on Hempstead Avenue. Construction is expected to begin after the hotel is demolished, sometime in early 2010.
   
The 150-unit luxury apartment building, which is adjacent to the West Hempstead Long Island Rail Road station, will feature a mixture of one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments with rents ranging from $1,900 to $2,700 and a host of amenities including a swimming pool with a sun deck, clubhouse equipped with a lounge and a fitness and business center.
  
An increase in community participation, however, is not the only step that leaders must take when considering Smart Growth. Addressing the Island’s inability to attract more young residents was also at the forefront of discussions. Panelists spoke about the different ways — including establishing more ethnic restaurants as well as cultural and entertainment venues in business districts — to make downtown areas more appealing to the Generation X and Y population.
   
“Long Island needs to grow because if it doesn’t grow, it will die,” said Donald Monti, a panelist at the summit and the founder of Renaissance Downtowns LLC, a company that specializes in redeveloping downtown areas. “We need to create more pedestrian-friendly downtowns where young people will want to visit often to eat, socialize and spend money. That’s key to pushing Long Island forward.”


Comments about this story? DWilliams@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 205.