Hempstead OKs rezoning of Woodmere Club site to allow senior housing

The Hempstead Town Board on Tuesday approved rezoning the former Woodmere Club to allow senior housing to be built on a golf course that spans an unincorporated part of the town and two villages.

The town board also approved settling a federal lawsuit brought by New Jersey-based developers Robert Weiss and Efrem Gerszberg. They had alleged that restrictive zoning regulations previously enacted at the site by the town and the villages of Woodsburgh and Lawrence were akin to eminent domain without just compensation, in violation of the Fifth and 14th Amendments.

The developers sought $200 million in compensation. Under terms of the settlement, however, the developers will pay the town $800,000.

The town’s actions affect a 55-acre portion of the 116.7-acre former golf club. Under the settlement, the developers plan to build 155 age-restricted condominiums and associated facilities on 34 acres of the northern part of the property while preserving 21.5 acres on the southern part as open space, according to town documents.

At least one resident of a unit must be at least 55 years old and no one under the age of 18 can live there for more than 90 days, according to the settlement. The condos will have a maximum of 320 assigned parking spots and will also have a clubhouse.

The town board unanimously passed the measures, as well as approving an environmental review, without discussion.

Following the vote, Town Attorney John Maccarone said the settlement was “a home run for open space in the Town of Hempstead.” Maccarone noted that rather than the town paying the developers under the settlement, the developers will pay the town $800,000 “because of the impact that that development may have on the community." 

Under the terms of the settlement, the developers will pay $400,000 following the zoning change and another $400,000 following site plan approval by the board.

Neither the developers nor their attorney responded for requests for comment Tuesday.

The developers purchased the property in 2017 with the intent of building housing and closing the course in 2021. In 2020, however, amid the pandemic, the course closed and was never reopened.

A year before the developers' purchase, in 2016, Hempstead had enacted a moratorium on building on the property in anticipation that a buyer would want to develop it. 

After a state court ruled the moratorium was illegal, the town and villages cooperatively enacted a restrictive zoning designation called “Coastal Conservation District - Woodmere Club” in 2020. That zoning designation restricted development on the site to 59 homes, thwarting the developers' plan to subdivide the property and build 280 homes.

Under that zoning designation, the owners would have been forced to preserve 83 acres of open space.

The developers sued in federal court. Last year, they floated a compromise to build senior housing and preserve large swaths of the property as open space.