Manhasset zoning debate heats up, again

The zoning for a parcel of land that has changed from recreational to parking to residential over the years is again up for debate in the Town of North Hempstead.

A town board public hearing Tuesday will consider a request to change the zoning from residential back to parking for the lot on The Gate in Manhasset.

To representatives of Gate Park Llc, the land just off Northern Boulevard represents much-needed space for parking and expansion of an adjacent retail area.

To residents of the Strathmore Village neighborhood, a zoning change means development pushing deeper into a residential area and more traffic.

"The last thing you need in this community is more parking," said Richard Tuohey, whose Rockcrest Road home abuts the lot. "It's a nightmare to go through The Gate to get out of here."

But Gate Park, which leases property on Northern Boulevard with an option to buy it and the adjacent lot under a zoning review, sees the change as "a restoration of zoning," according to Paul Bloom, Gate Park's attorney.

In the 1940s, the property was zoned to allow recreation and parking. In 1992, after a request to allow an office on the property, the town board rezoned the land to residential, said Michael Levine, North Hempstead's commissioner of planning and zoning.

One nearby resident said he bought his house for $1.6 million after checking that the zoning on the parcel was residential. To change it, he said, would be unfair.

"I can't believe we're even discussing enriching one of the few at the cost of the many," said resident Leonard Wolf, a resident of nearby Dover Road.

The meeting begins at 7:30 p.m. at Town Hall.