School officials oppose housing plan

Herricks’ Gounaris among educational representatives to call for local control in Nassau

BY ROBERT PELAEZ

Town of North Hempstead Supervisor Jennifer DeSena was joined by local school district officials on Monday to make a final push against a housing plan proposed by Gov. Kathy Hochul.

Hochul’s plan call for a 3% increase in housing units over three years, the possibility of the state stepping in if the 3% goal was not met and the use of transit-oriented developments to achieve that objective.

The plan is intended to close a shortage of 800,000 housing units in the New York metropolitan area.

DeSena, who has vocalized her opposition to the plan in previous months, urged state officials to consider the impact Hochul’s plan would have on Nassau’s public schools.

“The school districts in our towns have worked hard to rightfully earn their distinctions as some of the best schools in our nation,” DeSena said. “But even some of the best schools would face a significant challenge handling the sudden influx of students that high-density zoning would surely bring.

If the proposed legislation were to pass, the state would have control of zoning for 29 miles of area in Nassau County within a half mile of its

58 train stations, officials said. Recent villages and local municipalities have approved transit-oriented develop- ments without direct state interference and it should remain that way, according to officials.

Herricks Board of Education President Jim Gounaris said leaving the housing plans to local municipalities rather than the state would be in the best interest of the school districts so that their capacity can be effectively monitored and not put under heightened stress.

“There is no one standing here that does not support affordable housing,” Gouranis said. “A government mandate like this would only compromise school districts from being able to provide the excellent services, classrooms and programs they provide, especially for us here in Herricks.”

Meryl Waxman Ben-Levy, president of the Roslyn Board of Education, said the work she has undertaken to aid the public school system for more than 20 years was not so that the state would mandate housing in those areas.

“We need partners in Albany to understand the way of life of our communities,” she said. “School boards and the general community have been given precious little of information about the housing compact.”

The housing issue, Ben-Levy said, should not be considered a partisan one.

Hochul and the rest of the legislators in Albany have until Monday to come to terms on a new state budget.

The governor unveiled her plan

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