_______ Lynbrook/east rockaway ______
your HEALTH body / mind / fitness
and February 23, 2023
HERALD Also serving Bay Park
with a focus on:
HEA RT HEALTH
Your Health Heart Health Inside
Vol. 30 No. 9
Town approves redistricting map
Mental health services available
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FEBRUARY 23 - MARCH 1, 2023
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Owl Success Academy’s first graduate By BEN FIEBERT bfiebert@liherald.com
Courtesy Lynbrook Public Schools
lYNBRook HIgH SCHool student Matthew LaVerda is congratulated by Lynbrook board members and staff for being the first to graduate from the Owl Success Academy.
Lynbrook’s alternative high school program, the Owl Success Academy, reached a milestone on Feb. 8 when Matthew LaVerda became the program’s first graduate. Board members and school faculty celebrated LaVerda’s achievement at the Feb. 8 meeting. The proud graduate shook hands with every board member as he received his diploma. Addressing the board, LaVerda thanked them and said he hoped the program
would live on to create more graduates like him. “I want to say thank you because I’m honored and flabbergasted to stand in front of you and accept this,” LaVerda said. The program, he added, was “amazing,” and he wished it had started sooner. “I couldn’t be prouder of him,” Lynbrook High School Principal Matthew Sarosy said. “And I am also very proud that this opportunity was provided to Matthew, and he took full advantage of it.” Sarosy added Continued on page 6
Planned zoning meeting sparks variance in responses Many residents are surprised that a condo project approved in 2020 is picking up where it left off By BEN FIEBERT bfiebert@liherald.com
After a letter about a zoning variance meeting was shared on social media, residents of Lynbrook learned that condominiums are still in the works for Union Avenue. In 2020, the village board voted unanimously to approve an 18-unit condominium complex at 161 Union, where a sushi restaurant now operates. Over two years later, neighbors thought the project was dead. That changed, however, with an
announcement that a meeting about a parking and yard variance for the condos was scheduled for February. It was later p o s t p o n e d a f t e r re s i d e n t s argued that it should not be held during the school break, and a new date has not yet been set. One Lynbrook resident, Pat Alonge, said she thought the condo project was not moving forward, because “such an extended period of time elapsed.” “Then I found out that there was a variance hearing in front
of the Board of Zoning Appeals coming up,” Alonge added, “so all of a sudden, people were like, ‘What do you mean?’ Everybody thought this project was dead.” The Long Island Building Corp. proposed the construction of two condo buildings, to be called Parson’s Corners at Lynbrook, containing two onebedroom and 16 two-bedroom units. The 27-foot-tall buildings would have basement storage units and 38 parking spaces for condo owners. The proposed variances that
will be voted on at the upcoming meeting are related to offstreet parking requirements and a rear yard at the Union Avenue site. A zoning board approval of the variances would give the property owner, William Geier, the legal permission to use his property in any
way he sees fit when it comes to parking and installing a yard. One East Rockaway resident, Eric Weiss, called the development “Traffic Disaster 101.” Another from Lynbrook, Jenny Lengyel, said, “That corner is already a mess, especially for Continued on page 14