Lighthouse ‘lite’: Where do we go from here?

The Town of Hempstead announced its zoning plans for the 77 acres of land owned by Nassau County adjacent to Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum. The plan, created after consulting with engineering firm Frederick P. Clark Associates, challenges the original design of the Lighthouse project.
   
On the positive side, this alternative proposal incorporates many principles of Smart Growth and place-making elements. Conversely, the proposal limits the area’s economic potential due to restrictions placed on the project’s density, height and number of housing units. Under the new plan, hotels are limited to only nine stories, and retail, residential and office space is limited to only three or four stories.
  
Five or six stories or higher could easily work at this location given the surrounding heights of even taller buildings such as Hofstra dorms, Nassau Community College, the Omni, RXR and the Marriott Hotel. These restrictions reduce the housing potential from 2,306 units to a maximum of only 500 units, similar to the master plan for downtown Riverhead, a much smaller market.

   
The town’s greatly reduced zoning plan was based on the assumption that infrastructure contributions were nonexistent, which has therefore limited the density it believes could be supported on the property. This is the result of zero transportation or infrastructure dollars being set aside at the county, state or federal level despite years of advocacy.
   
Further, the town is not taking into consideration the $50 million in private investment from the Lighthouse developers as transportation mitigation. To not have these funds set aside after eight years of planning was irresponsible on the part of the prior Nassau County administration that was charged with transportation coordination for this area through varying Nassau Hub planning studies. To contrast this failure, the Village of Patchogue was able to secure $12 million in infrastructure investments and $35 million in total grants for their downtown revitalization efforts over the same period.
   
Transportation investments would include a widening of the Meadowbrook Parkway, the addition of express buses and new intersection improvements. There is hope, and from what we can ascertain, openness from the town that if investments are made to the infrastructure, the Lighthouse project could increase its level of density and enhance the area’s potential.
   
A possible option to jumpstart the project while bringing assurances to the town that the impact of the proposal would be mitigated is the creation of an incentive overlay district. Incentive zoning allows a developer to build a larger, higher-density project than would otherwise be permitted under the existing zoning. In exchange, the developer provides investments that are in the community’s interest that would not otherwise be required. This could include providing more affordable housing, transportation or a greater amount of public space.
  
In Mineola, any proposed development can be fast-tracked as an application straight to the village board, which shortened the process from about 2 1/2 years down to about 6 months. The developers were free to present their proposals directly to the board, and the board can adapt incentives to fit the needs of the area.
   
If any agreement on a Lighthouse-type project fails, a possible threat to the area would be if an agreement were made for the Shinnecock Nation to construct a casino on the property. There are many concerns and negative implications surrounding the building of a casino at the Coliseum site that are already leading to strong community opposition. A casino is additionally risky given that it would be adjacent to Hofstra University and Nassau Community College and the 50,000 students in the vicinity. Studies have shown that the college age population is more susceptible to problem gambling than any other age group. Indian-run casinos are not covered by current town zoning, since they are considered a federal development project, and therefore would be able to bypass many stages of approval and ignore the standard public-review process.
   
In short, the mix of uses proposed by the town is a start toward development in the area, but more akin to a Phase One than to an overall limiting of what could and should ultimately be built on the site with the proper infrastructure investments. Hopefully county, state and federal officials can step forward and allocate necessary transportation dollars for the Coliseum area and help bring both parties closer together. This type of partnership could make the Lighthouse project economically viable while meeting the Town of Hempstead’s goals of minimize the impact of the development to surrounding neighborhoods. The alternatives — the casino or nothing — pose more harm to Nassau County’s future than any form of the Lighthouse project.

Eric Alexander is the executive director of Vision Long Island, a regional not-for-profit “smart-growth” planning organization.