Some support, others oppose downtown building purchase

The village moved one step closer to purchasing an office building on Rockaway Avenue after an hour-long public hearing at Village Hall on Monday night. Several residents had questions about the proposed purchase, while others praised officials for making a commitment to the downtown business district.

Valley Stream officials say they would use the building, at 195 Rockaway Ave., as a Village Hall annex. It would house the courts and various law enforcement departments, including Public Safety, Auxiliary Police and Code Enforcement, alleviating overcrowding at Village Hall and the Firemen’s Field Clubhouse.

The 7,770-square-foot building served as Village Hall until the present facility opened in 1955, and the words “Municipal Building” are still visible above the second-story windows.

Mayor Ed Fare noted that by moving the court to its own building, it would allow Judge Robert Bogle to add more night court sessions. Right now, court is held on two or three Wednesday nights a month. Fare said that other meetings in the Village Hall courtroom, including the Board of Trustees, the Board of Zoning Appeals, the Architectural Review Board and the Civilian Patrol, leave little time for more court dates.

Resident Dena Biondo, who questioned why more court nights couldn’t be added at Village Hall, also had concerns about parking on Rockaway Avenue. Fare explained that there is a small municipal lot one block away from the building and a large lot two blocks away, just north of the railroad tracks.

The village is looking to take over the building through eminent domain, and Biondo said she does not like seeing the village trying to seize someone else’s property. But Fare responded that the owner is looking to sell, and that the eminent domain process actually works best for both sides. He explained that the village must pay fair market value so it protects the taxpayers and allays any doubts that the owner of the building is getting a special deal.

“We didn’t just arbitrarily pick it out of a hat,” Fare said. “The building was for sale.”

The asking price is $1.2 million but village officials are hoping to purchase it for around $800,000.

Fare explained that the village would like to buy the building as part of its Rockaway Avenue revitalization project. Having the court downtown, Fare said, would bring more pedestrian traffic to support the stores and restaurants already there, and hopefully encourage new businesses to open in vacant stores.

For those reasons, resident Anita Langella said, she supports the project. “This is the best thing I’ve heard for the avenue in ages,” she said. “Do it.”

Langella, who noted that the building used to be a bank but has remained mostly vacant for several years since Capital One left, said she doubts the owner would challenge the village in court.

The village has hired the law firm Sahn Ward Coschignano & Baker for the eminent domain purchase of the building. Fare said that the firm was chosen because of its experience in this kind of case, and because it has never had an eminent domain case go to court. The village is paying $150 an hour for the firm’s services. According to Fare, the closest hourly rate from another firm was $275.

Resident Richard Creeron said that the schools get about $71,000 a year in taxes from the building, and that he was concerned about the loss of tax revenue. He also asked that the village inspect the building before buying it to make sure that it isn’t “a total wreck.”

Fare said that an engineer had seen the building, and there are newly renovated offices on the second floor that some village departments could move right into. The first floor, he said, would take some work to turn into a courtroom, and the village would look into grants as well as member items from state and federal officials.

Some residents of Gibson Boulevard said they were concerned that the village was focusing on this property while ignoring the blighted stores in the south end of the village. “Why can’t we do eminent domain down there?” asked Carol Crupi. “It’s urban blight, plain and simple.”

Fare said that those buildings would not be as suitable for municipal purposes as the Rockaway Avenue building, and he added that the village has no intention of entering the real estate business.

Joseph Margolin said that one of those buildings could make a suitable courthouse if the interior walls were taken down. “Courthouses come in all shapes and sizes,” he said, recalling a time he, as a lawyer, appeared in a courthouse that had been converted from a barn in upstate New York.

Village Clerk Bob Barra said that officials are still exploring other options for the Gibson Boulevard property, the site of a stalled housing development. He said that eminent domain there would be a last resort.

With the hearing over, Fare said that the village’s law firm for the project would continue with the eminent domain procedure, and that he hopes to have the deed to the building sometime this fall. “The public hearing doesn’t give me any reasons to stop moving forward with our plans to purchase 195 Rockaway Avenue,” he said.

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