Vote delayed on Hempstead Town land sale plan

The Town of Hempstead owns some $4 billion worth of property spread over more than 750 parcels. Until last year, it didn't know where all of them were.

Hempstead's vast landholdings have become the latest issue to divide the division-prone town board. The Republican majority delayed a vote last month on hiring a company to create a plan for selling off for some of the underutilized parcels, which officials say number in the hundreds. Republican board members questioned the wisdom of hiring a single company to oversee the disposition of so much real estate, and asked whether Hempstead could save money by having town employees do the work instead.

"We'd like a little more time to look at this before we give an exclusive to a brokerage company," Councilman Bruce Blakeman said at the board meeting.

But Supervisor Laura Gillen criticized the delay, saying the plan would generate revenue through land sales and the return of idle properties to tax rolls. She also said private companies use many of the town-owned parcels in question, although Hempstead is on the hook for them.

"If someone falls down, the Town of Hempstead gets sued. We have to plow it, we have to maintain it. And the commercial tenant that gets the benefit of this property doesn't pay anything," she said at the meeting.

The board's four Republican members voted to adjourn the item. Gillen and Senior Councilwoman Dorothy Goosby, both Democrats, voted against the adjournment.

Gillen said she requested a list of all town properties when she became supervisor last year, only to discover no such list existed. The town then hired Smith & DeGroat Real Estate of Mineola to scour tax and property records to create a comprehensive inventory of town land. The resulting database, completed last fall, revealed that nearly 400 parcels owned by Hempstead were vacant tracts, parking lots used by neighboring businesses or other underutilized plots, according to Rebecca Sinclair, Gillen's deputy chief of staff.

Sinclair said the value of all the underutilized property is around $850 million.

"Residents would reap tremendous benefits from potential sales, since that money could be used to enhance town services, upgrade local parks facilities and build new parks," Gillen said in a statement.

The delayed proposal would have hired Smith & DeGroat to appraise the land in question, recommend which parcels the town should seek to sell or lease and manage transactions with potential buyers, Sinclair said.

The company would have received a percentage of any sales or leases and up to $150,000 for appraisal, advisory and inventory management services, the town board resolution shows.

Tom Owens runs a landscaping business near one such vacant town-owned plot in Roosevelt. Owens said he is in negotiations with Hempstead to purchase the fenced-in lawn and use it to expand his business. He called the idea of the town selling off such land "common sense."

"At least it's back on the tax roll," he said. "More revenue for the town."