Plans for area around Hempstead's train, bus terminals

THE VISION

To transform 26 acres around the downtown Hempstead train and bus terminals, including 11 acres of village-owned parking fields, auto shops and other businesses. A preliminary plan envisions a village green to greet commuters who arrive to the transit hub, surrounded by a mix of housing and shops. The area, roughly 15 blocks bounded by the railroad and North Main Street or North Franklin Street, is designated an urban renewal zone, which would allow the village to condemn private property in the zone as blighted and acquire it for redevelopment as needed.

The proposal also calls for open space, wide sidewalks, bicycle paths and parking hidden from view. It doesn't specify a number of housing units or commercial spaces, leaving it up to developers to propose such details.

The hope is to create jobs, draw young professionals and empty nesters, and strengthen the tax base in a community where properties comprising nearly a third of the village's assessed value do not owe taxes.

OBSTACLES

The main challenge, says veteran planner Lee Koppelman, is attracting a developer who can pull off such a big project. "You're talking about a megamillion-dollar investment on the 26 acres. It's not a small deal by any means," he said.

The village may also have to ease fears of displacement raised by the phrase "urban renewal," village officials said. The area is now zoned for business use only, but it contains 11 single-family houses and an unknown number of apartment dwellers that could be displaced. Mayor Wayne Hall Sr. estimates no more than 1,000 people live in the area. The state's urban renewal law requires that the village relocate residents. "[This] was not a residential area to begin with," Hempstead Village community development agency commissioner Claude Gooding said.

Rundown structures also pose a problem. A 2005 survey of 69 privately owned buildings in the area found 30 of them - 43 percent - were deteriorating or deteriorated. Gooding said the village doesn't intend to raze a swath of buildings wholesale but prefers to rehabilitate existing structures where possible.

PROGRESS

So far, it's mostly on paper. The village's community development agency has issued a request for proposals that developers were asked to respond to by last Friday. Last fall, the village board adopted a master plan for the urban renewal zone and a much larger area of the downtown, paving the way for amendments to the zoning code that would enable developers to build mixed-use structures. That plan recommends increasing allowable building heights from 85 feet to 120 feet within a quarter-mile of the railroad station to allow for higher-density development.