Ongoing talks on country club takeover

The North Hempstead Town Board Tuesday night voted to continue a public hearing about condemning and seizing the 10-acre Roslyn Country Club to convert it into a fee-based membership park for residents.

Before the meeting, Supervisor Jon Kaiman said the town recently met with club organizer Manouchehr "Manny" Malekan to discuss turning over the Roslyn Heights club.

"I think there might be an opportunity to come up with a negotiated resolution," Kaiman said Tuesday afternoon. The town started the talks after residents approached the Town Board, asking for help in restoring and reopening the aging facility.

The Roslyn Heights club is in the heart of a 668-home Levitt & Sons Inc. development and includes a pool and tennis courts, which have been closed about five years, and a catering hall, which is open.

Malekan said he would sell, lease or not object to the town condemning the pool and the tennis courts. But he said the catering facility is a moneymaker that he is unwilling to give up. "I don't trust them" he said of the town. "But I'm trying my best."

The continuation, until Aug. 23, follows a four-hour public hearing in May. Residents were allowed to comment, but Kaiman said talks are still ongoing.

After Tuesday night's meeting, Town Clerk Leslie Gross confirmed that the Town Hall will be open for same-sex couples to obtain marriage licenses by appointment only from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. The town initially had announced those plans last week. The state's Marriage Equality Law will take effect Sunday.

The board also approved a plan to prohibit weekday parking on Jeannette and Annette drives and Linda and Evelyn roads in an attempt to regulate commuter parking in the area. The restrictions apply to one side of each street between 10:30 a.m. and noon, and to the other side of each street from 12:30 to 2 p.m., Councilman Fred Pollack said.

Nearly 2,400 riders board trains each weekday morning at the Port Washington station, which has just over 900 designated parking spots. Other neighborhoods nearby have some type of parking restriction, he said.

The board also approved two resolutions to authorize a legal analysis and environmental study about a disputed piece of Port Washington land that the North Hempstead Housing Authority once wanted to use for affordable senior housing.

Some community members want the land in the Harbor Homes affordable housing community to be used for a park.