Hempstead Town OKs Elmont rezoning plan

The Hempstead Town board has approved the controversial rezoning plan for Elmont's Hempstead Turnpike corridor and also adopted a Complete Streets policy -- more than a year after it was first proposed.

The board Tuesday unanimously passed the amended rezoning of a 2-mile stretch of Hempstead Turnpike in Elmont, but civic leaders and business owners criticized the plan for not including more mixed-use development options -- apartments above ground-level retail stores.

"I have had it with this town," said Pat Nicolosi, president of the Elmont East End Civic Association. "They are going to do what they want to do."

Under the new plan, the Elmont section of the corridor -- from Queens to Franklin Square -- was rezoned into four subdistricts with specific uses, building height requirements, and design and parking guidelines. The amended plan also adds a review board to create a uniform aesthetic along the turnpike.

The town's plan limits mixed-use to one block in each direction from Elmont Road, near the former Argo Theater property. But community advocates said the town failed to incorporate recommendations in its own 2008 vision plan for Elmont, in which residents and business owners asked for more mixed-used development.

"No one is going to build mixed-use down there," said Nicolosi, noting the two-block stretch near Elmont Road includes two fire department buildings and a town park. "It is a plan that delivers nothing . . . I am going to keep fighting."

The town also unanimously adopted on Tuesday a Complete Streets policy that would mandate new road projects consider safety and convenient access for all users -- including drivers, pedestrians and bicyclists -- in the design, construction and revamping of town streets. The towns of North Hempstead, Babylon, Islip, Brookhaven and Southampton have adopted similar policies.

Design features might include countdown crosswalk signals, bicycle lanes, pedestrian islands, bus pullouts, curb cuts and landscaping.

Sandi Vega, 36, a safety advocate whose daughter Brittany, 14, was killed in September 2010 in Wantagh while crossing Sunrise Highway on her way to school, said, "Complete Streets opened everyone's eyes that streets are not just for vehicles anymore."