Cedarhurst cuts 100-year-old oak tree for new parking lot

It might not have been paradise, but the Village of Cedarhurst cut down what is said to be a 100-year-old oak tree on Aug. 5, and is planning to build a parking lot, bringing Joni Mitchell’s 1969 song “Big Yellow Taxi” to life in the Five Towns.

The loss of the tree is the focal point in a disagreement of what should be done with the property at 68 Washington Ave., where the tree stood. It was cut down on the same day as the monthly village board meeting.

In November 2022, the Cedarhurst board heard a proposal from Cedarhurst businessman Samuel Nahmias to build a 17-apartment development on the 18,730-square-foot site. Nahmias, formerly the chairman of the Nassau County Bridge Authority, is currently the mayor of Lawrence.

The apartment complex elicited mixed reactions, especially from nearby residents. The Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns & Rockaway’s Lower School shares that portion of Washington Avenue with homes, the fire department and business near Central Avenue.

In February 2023, the village’s Board of Zoning Appeals unanimously denied the application for the 17-apartment development.

Acting on a recommendation from the Lawrence-Cedarhurst Fire Department, the village board decided to build a 39-space parking lot on the property. Cedarhurst plans to spend $2 million building the lot, $1.8 million of which they are borrowing.

At this month’s village meeting, Washington Avenue resident Michael Hatten aggressively discussed this mater.

“Now with the scheme to build more parking, do we need more parking in this town?” said Hatten, who is also a Lawrence Board of Education trustee. “The zoning board turned it down, and yet this board with its ‘infinite wisdom’ decided that a parking lot diagonally across from the fire department, directly across from HAFTR Elementary School with three lanes was the best solution?”

Hatten said he has always opposed the removal of the oak tree and the development proposal. He created a change.org petition in January 2023 titled “Stop Over-Development in Cedarhurst,” which called for the rejection of the proposal, and collected more than 300 signatures. It now has 335 signatures.

“It’s extremely frustrating to me because they killed the tree, that’s never going to come back,” Hatten said. “You can never get back what they chopped down the other day.”

He proposed a vision to fix this situation and make it more visually appealing.

“I’d like to see the village put around the perimeter of this parking lot the best trees and fences to make this as private as possible,” Hatten said. “I would like to see them do the right thing now and make it as beautiful as it can be.”

Deputy Mayor Ari Brown explained why the tree was cut down to build a municipal parking lot.

“As our fire chief brought up, we do need more parking, we have this double parking issue,” said Brown, who also serves as the area’s assemblyman. “Washington Avenue being our smallest lot with only 39 spots is heavily impacting the area and the bottlenecks in the area.”

“The best use for that lot would be to expand the parking,” Brown said at a previous village meeting.

Cedarhurst plans on beautifying the lot and planting more trees in the area.

“It’s a shame to take down a 100-year old tree, but there were no other ways to build a parking lot in that area,” Mayor Benjamin Weinstock said. “We will be planting trees of laurel bushes all around and constantly planting new trees in the community.”

Have an opinion on this Cedarhurst issue? Send letter to jbessen@liherald.com.