New Hyde Park wants retail district near village's LIRR station

New Hyde Park Mayor Lawrence Montreuil said Tuesday the village has started working with state Sen. Elaine Phillips (R-Flower Hill) to secure $5 million in state funding for a small retail district in the village.

Montreuil said all the specifics aren’t finalized, but the plan is to get the money from the 2017-18 state budget and place the retail district near the village’s Long Island Rail Road station. Montreuil said it’s unclear when the village is getting the $5 million and that there are many details to hammer out before the district is complete.

“We would have to do some rezoning and speak to developers, but it would be a brand-new project,” Montreuil said. “We know the location; we just have to build out the concept.”

Montreuil said the $5 million is a byproduct of the village having several conversations with Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s office about the local impact of the Long Island Rail Road third track project. He said an additional $800,000 from the state will come to the village for continuing road improvements. 

Montreuil said the $800,000 is noteworthy because the village typically would spend $500,000 a year on road improvements. 
“That’s a year and a half worth of road projects that won’t have to be funded by property taxes,” he said.