Vote on GWL Waterfront Rezone: How You Can Affect the Outcome

In August, the North Hempstead Town Council delayed voting on a zoning application that would permit a 60-unit condominium apartment building to be constructed on the Glenwood Landing (GWL) Waterfront just south of the GWL Power Station on property that once housed Harbor Fuel. The vote has been rescheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 14, at 7:30 P.M. At that time, the TNH Council could approve the change with or without conditions, deny the application, or delay taking action. To confirm the date and time that the matter is scheduled, call TNH (869-7700).

Two hearings on the application held during the summer drew standing room only crowds of residents from both the TNH and TOB portions of GWL, as well as neighbors from Glen Head, Sea Cliff, Roslyn Harbor, and Glen Cove. Residents of the TNH portion of GWL have been vocal in their opposition to the project, as have people in the rest of GWL and surrounding communities.

Virtually everyone who attended the summer hearings expressed opposition to the zoning change and the proposed apartment building. There also was strong support for maintaining the parcel as open space. TNH currently owns a portion of the parcel. If the zoning change is granted, TNH would sell that portion of the parcel to Glen Harbor Partners, the company that submitted the zoning application.

TNH appears to have ruled out investing in open space on the eastern shore of Hempstead Harbor because it perceives the population in the TNH portion of GWL as too small to warrant such an investment. The fact that the parcel under review is environmentally sensitive due to its waterfront location does not seem to be relevant to this view. Nor does the long history of industrial and residential taxes collected from properties on the TNH side of the line, little of which seems to have found their way back to GWL over the decades.

Because so many people who would benefit from open space at the TNH / Glen Harbor site would be from outside TNH, TNH Councilman Fred Pollack has contacted TOB Supervisor John Venditto to inquire whether Oyster Bay would consider exploring a cooperative open space effort at this location. As of this writing, Councilman Pollack reports he has received no response. In addition, the project proposed for the site appears to be contingent upon construction of a mostly privately funded sewer line to Glen Cove. Glen Cove Mayor Ralph Suozzi recently notified TNH that Glen Cove will not consider sewer hookups from locations outside the city until Glen Cove has completed a master plan, a process that could take some time. In addition, Mayor Suozzi has said that when and if such hookups are entertained, priority will be given to public projects designed to address a documented need.

WHAT YOU CAN DO TODAY

The civic association supports an inter-municipal effort to explore what it would cost to acquire, rehabilitate, and maintain the TNH / Glen Harbor Partners site south of the Glenwood Landing Power Station as open space and how such a project might be funded and managed (see other side). Please let the officials below know if you, too, would like these questions to be examined. This research will be conducted and presented to the public only if many people express an interest in getting answers. If you live in an incorporated village, also consider contacting your mayor and trustees.

• CONTACT TOB SUPERVISOR JOHN VENDITTO: Request that TOB contact TNH and that the two municipalities explore how much it would cost to maintain the property as open space and how such an effort could be funded (Oyster Bay Town Hall, 54 Audrey Avenue, Oyster Bay 11771 / 624-6350 / Town of Oyster Bay).

• CONTACT MAYOR RALPH SUOZZI: Thank the mayor for considering sewer hookups from locations outside the city only after the city completes a master plan and then giving priority to publicly funded projects that address a documented need (Glen Cove City Hall, 9 Glen Street 11542 / 676-2000 / City of Glen Cove).

• CONTACT TNH SUPERVISOR JON KAIMAN: Request a comprehensive management plan for the TNH portion of GWL and ask TNH to lead an inter-municipal effort to rehabilitate the entire TNH / Glen Harbor Partners site and to bring it into the public domain as protected open public land (North Hempstead Town Hall, 220 Plandome Road, Manhasset 11030 / 869-7700 / Town of North Hempstead).