Vision Long Island tabbed to study Lynbrook movie theater parking situation

In an effort to ensure that there are enough parking spaces to accommodate the Regal movie theater in Lynbrook, which is scheduled to open its doors this holiday season, Vision Long Island has been brought in to conduct a parking study.

“They’re the top on Long Island and I’ve been told that by many other villages and many other towns,” said Mayor Bill Hendrick. “These guys have done parking studies for so many people. We think they’re the top.”

VLI was established in Northport almost 20 years ago and promotes more livable, sustainable and environmentally responsible growth on Long Island.

Unlike the old theater, which was bulldozed in August 2016, there will not be a municipal parking lot for the new one, which means a loss of 51 parking spaces. However, there will be 171 fewer seats in the new building — a total of 1,434 — and Hendrick said that parking regulations on Atlantic Avenue could be amended during peak movie hours. He added that parking lots outside the stores near the theater are vacant at night when most of them close.

Engineering firms in Hauppauge and Huntington conducted two other parking studies before construction of the movie theater began. Hendrick said the village board wouldn’t have pushed forward with construction if it didn’t think there was adequate parking, but added that bringing in VLI will help reassure residents.

The third study will begin later this month and is expected to be completed in August. Hendrick said VLI is aiming to have its report in by September. Blumenfeld Development Group, the Syosset-based company in charge of the theater’s construction, will pay for the study.

According to VLI Executive Director Eric Alexander, the company will look at the previous two studies and then compare and contrast the demands of peak movie hours for Lynbrook with other studies that have been completed at similar locations.

“We’re excited,” Alexander said. “It’s a community we haven’t worked in before and we know there’s been a lot of efforts through the years to bring the theater back.” He added that working in the summer is good because it is generally a season with heavy traffic.

Alexander said that VLI has approved 13,000 units of development in 40,000 communities. Its goal is to educate the community and focus on the redevelopment of downtowns. Members of VLI also advocate in Albany and Washington, D.C. for infrastructure funds and grants for local communities and downtowns.

According to Village Administrator John Giordano, a firm hired by Regal to study the Lynbrook parking situation went to the Westbury Theater on a Saturday at 8 p.m. to see the number of cars that filled the parking lot. The study determined that the theater was 80 percent occupied, and based on that, the firm applied the 80 percent to the Lynbrook movie theater and concluded that there was adequate parking.

Giordano noted that there are also plenty of handicap spots that can be used in the municipal parking lots, which are accessible to the theater — including lots on both sides of Peninsula Boulevard. He also expressed confidence in VLI. “Vision Long Island has had success with a lot of projects that are even bigger than our Lynbrook project,” he said.