News

QuickChek to revise Seaford plan

Developer, civic association to hold fall informational meeting

Posted

The developer of a proposed gas station in Seaford is looking to hold a community meeting in the coming weeks to update residents on the scaled-down project.

In a letter to the Seaford Harbor Civic Association, Bill Bonesso, the attorney for QuickChek, said he hopes to meet with the organization in September or October to review changes make to the proposal. According to Bonesso, QuickChek is no longer seeking to use a piece of undeveloped, residentially zoned property.

Last year, QuickChek proposed building a 6,600-square-foot convenience store on Merrick Road with eight gas pumps. The site included a current gas station and an adjoining parking lot in the commercial zone, as well as a portion of wooded land behind it, that would have been sectioned off from a residential property.

Residents at a community meeting in January expressed outrage over the use of residential land, while also raising traffic and quality-of-life concerns. QuickChek has responded with a plan that would only use the commercial property.

Susan Trenkle-Pokalsky, a spokewoman for the Town of Hempstead, said that QuickChek resubmitted plans on April 21. They were reviewed by the Building Department, which said that more information was needed. Trenkle-Pokalsky said a site plan was submitted, but information such as elevations — the height of the building and canopy — and signage was left off.

Until that information is provided, she said, it will be not be placed on a Board of Appeals hearing calendar.

Russ Mench, a spokesman for the developer, said that QuickChek will not publicly share the details of its revised plans until the community meeting. “QuickChek is committed to meeting the needs of the Seaford community,” he said.

“We’re definitely open to it,” Christine Pyryt, a member of the Seaford Harbor Civic Association, said of meeting with the QuickChek developers and consultants. “I’d like to see what’s next, and we’ll go from there.”

Phil Franco, president of the civic association, said he also welcomes a meeting and wants to hear what changes are planned. He said he is hoping to host the meeting at the Seaford firehouse, and he and Bonesso are working to set a date.

Franco said the fact that the proposal no longer includes the use of residential land is a big step forward. “They’ve got some other problems that they’ve got to iron out, but that was the big one,” he said. “We didn’t want to encroach on residential property like that.”

Other issues Franco cited from the initial proposal include the plans to have QuickChek open 24 hours a day, as well as traffic, signage and the height of the canopy. Franco said that many residents were concerned that the excessively high canopy would attract large trucks.

Pyryt also expressed concern about the around-the-clock operation of the business. And she said she would like to see the property utilized better than it is now, and welcomes a proposal that would fit the character of the neighborhood.

She added that the fact that QuickChek is coming back with a revised proposal after the January meeting shows good faith on the company’s part. “I don’t know how happy they were with how it went down, but it looks like they’re willing to work with us,” she said. “You want to know that you’re being heard as a community.”