Rockville Centre residents form neighborhood association

Rockville Centre resident Jeanette Duncan Cornell said that after seeing a number of residents expressing their concerns on various Facebook groups, they wanted to step in to help coordinate a forum for residents to collect and organize their ideas. 

“The reason I set this up is because I am in a few of the community Facebook groups,” Cornell said. “I’ve seen a lot of issues… and I’ve seen a lot of people that really want to make a difference and have offered up a lot of potential solutions, but I haven’t seen a way for us to come together and work on it as a community.” 

She said that after realizing that there were no groups in place for residents to organize, she and her husband, Steven Cornell, decided to create their own civic platform called the Rockville Centre Neighborhood Association as a way to step in and fill that void. 

“It seemed like a lot of people shouting into the wind,” Steven said. “We had no idea if anyone from the village was observing any of these issues or listening or engaging in any of those (Facebook) groups.”

The Rockville Centre Neighborhood Association invited residents in the community to attend its first-ever meeting on Saturday at the Rockville Centre Public Library. 

“I am not someone that particularly likes standing up here and talking to groups of people, but I’m doing it because I care and I want to find the people that can help drive this group,” Jeanette explained. “I want to find the issues that we can work on together. I don’t have any political aspirations. I’m not a particularly political person. I don’t care what political party you belong to. I care that you’re a resident and I care that you care about this community and that you want to help. That’s it. There’s no other agenda here.”

Residents showed up in droves for the opportunity to share their thoughts and concerns on a number of quality of life topics, including parking, policing, taxes, commerce and zoning.

Colleen Lynch, who has been living in Rockville Centre for more than 24 years, stood up during the meeting to inform others about a particular zoning application seeking to construct a $45 million medical facility on Sunrise Highway, which developers are looking to put up between Public Storage and Montauk Avenue, within 200 feet of her property. 

She said that based on the application, the project will look to build a new three-story structure, with approximately 55,400 square-feet of space. It is anticipated to create 786 new jobs and 368 parking spaces. 

“I foresee them taking it over and this is hospital sprawl,” she said. “This is creeping into our neighborhood. I live within 200 feet of the site. It’s not just about me, I want to maintain my home value. It’s about this village.” 

She expressed concern that with this new facility, thousands of people will come pouring into the village. 

“This is a major problem,” Lynch said, rallying residents to join her at the next meeting. “It is extremely important that we all come and fill that courtroom and make it explode so that those people on that board know that we do not want this.” 

After listening to residents speak out about their concerns, the Cornells passed around several index cards for residents to write down some of their biggest concerns, in the hopes of bringing them forward before the Rockville Centre Village Board of Trustees at its upcoming meeting on July 18.