Friday, September 13, 2019
Vol. 79, No. 37
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Developers answer questions about Hicksville project
GARDEN OF HOPE
BY GARY SIMEONE
Hempstead Town Councilman Dennis Dunne (fourth right) greeted members of Girl Scout Troop 3537 at the site of their “Garden of Hope” project, located on Market Lane in Levittown. The Girl Scouts planted, weeded, decorated and brought the garden back to life as part of their Silver Award Project. Councilman Dunne was joined by Girl Scouts Chelsea Lauer, Priya Lall, Jamie Ryan and Isabelle Torre; Daisy Scouts Madison Murphy and Kyndra Ryan; Boy Scout James Stroud; Maria Gorecki, Yevette Lall and Carmen Torre; and Hempstead Town Water Department Commissioner Jay Reinhardt.
Town of OB: Save the Oyster Festival
With the East Coast’s largest waterfront festival only six weeks away, Town of Oyster Bay Supervisor Joseph Saladino gathered organizers of the Oyster Festival to call upon the business community to help support this premier event, which benefits the local economy and attracts up to 200,000 visitors from throughout the tristate region. Supervisor Saladino said, “This annual tradition,
which has been in operation for nearly four decades, provides great festivities for residents throughout the tristate area. More importantly, the Oyster Bay Rotary Club and the Oyster Bay Charitable Fund provide the opportunity through this festival to benefit more than two dozen local not-for-profits. Unfortunately, a recent pullout by local sponsors has left this annual tradition in peril, and quite
frankly, we cannot allow that to happen.” After reading the news, some good corporation citizens contacted the Festival Committee to help fill the gap. First, Blumenfeld Development Group (BDG, Ltd.), led by its President Ed Blumenfeld, has committed $5,000 to the event. BDG, Ltd. president Ed Blumenfeld said, “When See page 10
Last Thursday, Hicksville residents and community members gathered inside the Hicksville Community Center to hear the latest plans for the proposed mixed-use development project at the former Sears site off of Broadway. Many had questions regarding the scope of the project and how it would affect the local community. Larry Rose, of Seritage Growth Properties, which is in charge of the project, was on hand to discuss the latest updates to the planned residential and shopping complex. “The latest news I have is that we have scaled down the size of the complex from 566 residential units to 425, which will allow us to create open areas for green space and other such amenities,” said Rose. “By cutting down on the number of proposed units, it will provide an opportunity to add things like pocket parks, setbacks and layered landscaping to give it more of a community atmosphere.” The mixed-use Development is part of the overall Hicksville redevelopment plan, which is covered under New York State Governor, Andrew Cuomo’s Downtown Revitalization initiative. The project will include a three-story complex with residential units, an on-site parking facil-
ity, a grocery store, office space, a state of the art gym and the first iPic movie theatre on Long Island. Community members at the meeting had an assortment of questions for Rose and his development team, which included John Clifford of S9 Architecture and Dominic Minerva, an attorney representing Seritage Growth Properties. The questions ranged from traffic concerns at the site to the expected completion date of the project. One of the concerns of residents was tree removal in the area and how that would affect residential properties on nearby streets, Bay and Lenox Avenue’s. Rose said that there are plans for arborists to come in and determine the health of the trees that exist along the property line. “The trees that are determined to be in good condition will stay and some will need to be replaced,” said Rose. Another question was regarding the size of the proposed grocery store at the site and if would be competing with other groceries in the area like H Mart and Whole Foods Market. “The plan is for a grocery store in the 35,000 square foot range,” said Rose. “For comparison sake, this would be about the size of a Marshalls compared to your typSee page 10
Bethpage Hall of Fame induction PAGE 8 Opening Day at Hicksville Schools PAGES 22-23