Thursday, October 1, 2026
Woodmere Club developers will have to wait until at least Dec. 16 for approval on their proposed redrawing of lot lines.
At the Woodsburgh village and Woodmere Club planning meeting at Village Hall on July 24, Christian Browne, the attorney for Efrem Gerszberg and Robert Weiss, who purchased the property in 2017, asked on behalf of his clients for the village to approve the redrawing of the lot lines to reflect four new sub-divisions.
“Mr. Weiss, he was emphatic in his desire that this be taken care of expeditiously,” Browne said in July. “He asked me to repeat that and stress how important it is to my client that this application be granted, again, not because it allows anything else to happen there, but because it is more conducive to their management of the property for real estate conveyance purposes, and we see no reason why the application can’t be granted, since it doesn’t change anything except the way the tax map is drawn.”
The most up to date plan, proposed at another late July meeting, was the construction of 160 condominiums for seniors on the Woodmere portion of the property and conservation areas on the other parts of the property, which has sections in Lawrence village, Woodsburgh village and the Town of Hempstead.
At the July village meeting, Browne expressed that developers, Gerszberg and Weiss, whose future development has generated no shortage of controversy, did not intend to sell the proposed sub-divisions.
Residents in attendance at village hall in Hewlett, urged the board to hold off approval of redrawing the lot lines until the developers put forward a completed plan.
The village board pushed the vote on the matter to a special meeting on Aug. 19, so it could consider it further, trustees said, then adjourned the matter again until Sept. 23.
At the September meeting, Gerszberg said that while the developers have Lawrence and Woodsburgh resident support on most recent version of the plan, Hempstead has refused to meet, keeping the development at a standstill.
Gerszberg added that the new lot lines would allow him to sell the clubhouse property alone, which is divided into its own sub-division, without the two southern pieces of the property, which fork off of the proposed clubhouse sub-division, as conservation areas.
Residents expressed concern, in that the purpose for the lot lines was unclear, since their July meeting with the developer’s representative.
“Do we not have, not only a right or an obligation to understand more information on exactly what you’re going to be doing with that property?” Woodsburgh Mayor Jacob Harman said, who Gerszberg commended for his tireless efforts in pushing for the town’s approval of the proposed plan, without the new sub-divisions.
If the lot lines do not get approved, Gerszberg said he would sell the entire section of the property south of Keene Lane and Railroad Avenue.
“My point is all you’re doing is forcing me, which I will do, to sell everything over here, (lower portion of the Woodmere Club property) and all you do is give someone 20 acres to play with instead of a very small thing,” Gerszberg said, explaining the immediate surrounding property to the clubhouse, as the small thing.
Gerszberg and Browne closed the meeting, stating that if Hempstead does not agree to meet with developers in 60 days, the developers will proceed with additional legal action, involving both Lawrence and Woodsburgh village.
The developers urged community members to show their support at upcoming town meetings, to push Hempstead to move forward with the proposed plans.
Woodsburgh village officials scheduled the next planning board meeting for Dec. 16 at 7 p.m. to reconsider lot lines.
The next Town of Hempstead meeting is scheduled for Oct. 31 at 10:30 a.m.
Have an opinion on the new Woodmere Club proposal? Send a letter to
pschug@liherald.com.
