Town board considers rescinding transit-oriented development plan in Inwood and North Lawrence
After listening to 40 people over the course of a nearly three-hour-long public hearing on July 2, the Hempstead Town Board voted to approve a 30-day comment period on whether a transit-oriented development plan for Inwood and North Lawrence should be rescinded.
The motion came from Councilwoman Melissa Miller, whose district includes Inwood and Lawrence. Supervisor Donald Clavin seconded it.
The town ap-proved zoning changes five years ago, persuaded by then Councilman Bruce Blakeman’s advocacy for a transit-oriented development district, with apartment buildings to be constructed near the Lawrence Long Island Rail Road Station.
The town instituted a moratorium on the plan in 2022. The ban was in place until June 18 of this year. And at last week’s hearing, residents voiced their support for, or opposition to, higher-density housing adjacent to mass transit, with a three-minute time limit so everyone would have a chance to speak.
Clavin said he was “delighted” to see the large turnout.
Paris Popack, a leading member of the Lawrence Civic Association and a former deputy mayor of Lawrence, spoke first. She had also created a change.org petition for those who, like her, opposed the rezoning plan but were unable to attend the hearing, and it had garnered over 500 signatures.
“I am not against development,” Popack said. “I am for development done in the right areas, with appropriate studies, and studies that are sensitive to Jewish and secular holidays that properly reflect the flow of traffic.”
“We cannot allow developers to harm our community,” she added. “Inwood, North Lawrence and Rockaway Turnpike are not the right areas for multiple-family developments. We are being crushed by surrounding developments and proposed developments.”
Inwood resident Dr. David Pintar stressed the heavy traffic on State Route 878, a.k.a. the Nassau Expressway, and Rockaway Turnpike. “You’re looking to add hundreds and hundreds of more cars and people over there,” Pintar said. “The traffic is already disastrous.”
Several developers who attended expressed their support for the zoning changes, as did representatives of local chapters of construction unions.
Mike Florio, CEO of the Long Island Builders Institute, and Eric Alexander, director of Vision Long Island, took to the podium as well. They were among the few who were in favor of transit-oriented development.
“Single-family homes are not the only way,” Alexander said. “People need other housing options, because they might not be able to afford a single-family home, at $700,000 on average, or higher in Nassau. We do need opportunities to change and be flexible. We hope when it does sell, people can come together and see beautiful forms of compromise.”
“It’s important to understand we have a housing crisis here on Long Island,” Florio said. “We have a supply-and-demand problem, and it’s not being addressed enough. If there’s a way to move forward and find balance, I will support that.”
Steven Losquadro, special counsel to the town on land use, offered information on how development in the area would impact the environment. The board recognized that special care had to be taken, under the state Environmental Quality Review Act, to make sure that a hard look was being taken at potential impacts of the rezoning, Losquadro said.
The town hired an environmental consultant to do just that, but over the past five years, since the rezoning was approved, he said, “Circumstances have changed — more congestion, traffic, other environmental concerns that could come up over a period of time.”
The newly elected mayor of Lawrence, Samuel Nahmias, who said he was representing not only his village, but his own family and the Five Towns, added that his constituents were united in opposition to the rezoning.
“People from Lawrence love Lawrence and want it to remain Lawrence,” Nahmias told the board. “I ask you elected officials to remember that my constituents are your constituents, and they don’t want this. Please take it under consideration.”
Comments on the rezoning plan for transit-oriented development can be sent to DonClavin@hempsteadny.gov, or to Hempstead Town Hall, 1 Washington St., Hempstead, NY 11550.
Have an opinion on transit-oriented development? Send a letter to
jbessen@liherald.com.
