Questions On Proposal

Published by Request:

Trustee Lamberti:

The Eastern Property Owners Association of Garden City would like to take the opportunity to thank you and the committee for the tremendous efforts put forth that resulted in your report of the Mayor's Committee.

Since the St. Paul's issue is very important to the future of Garden City and its residents, the directors of the EPOA had a special meeting on July 29, 2008 to discuss the Report of The Mayor's Committee on St. Paul's. While we were able to understand many of the items summarized in the report, many directors had questions that when answered will allow us individually and as a group to form an opinion on the committee's recommendations, and also to factually respond to our residents during the upcoming public input period.

EPOA president Dennis Donnelly charged me with gathering these questions and requesting a response from the committee. Some of these questions may have been discussed in different forums or news articles but we thought it best to get the answer directly from the committee.

With that said, could you please review the questions attached and provide the committee's response to me by August 29th, 2008.

Walter McKenna,

Director,

Eastern Property Owners Association

Follow-up Questions Posed By EPOA

1) Why were the proposals from the Albanese Organization and a coalition of the Canus group and the Committee to Save St. Paul's not considered?

2) Did Eskar International, LTD respond to the RFP and if so what was the reason for not considering their proposal?

3) If Avalon Bay walks away from the project at any point prior to the completion of the project, based on the proposal, what legal option would the Village have to force them to complete the project or abandon the agreement?

4) Assuming the project is completed, would it be legally possible for the property to be converted into condominiums? What approval authority does the Village of Garden City have in this process, in any?

5) While we realize that the PILOT's were negotiated by Avalon Bay so that during the PILOT period they could generate a particular yield on the project, what percentage of estimated full tax do the PILOT amounts represent by year and what negotiations were made to increase th PILOT amounts by year, aside from the reduction of the PILOT period from 35 years to 20?

6) If Avalon Bay wanted to sell the building and the ground lease could they do this? And what legal options are available to the Village to stop this from happening if it were not in the best interest of Garden City?

7) As best we can see, the project as presented in your findings does not directly speak to a key issue that needs to be understood by the public. This issue is any increase of taxes to the residents of Garden City as a result of moving forward with this project, particularly during the PILOT period.

Has the committee reviewed or analyzed the additional costs that the Village of Garden City and its residents and if so could you please provide its findings?

A) Sanitation & Recycling

B) Police Services

C) Fire Department Services

D) Other Village Administrative services that will be needed to monitor or manage a project of this magnitude.

8) In reference to the services listed above, will there be any need to increase personnel to provide these service, be it for staffing or workload reasons or in accordance with any of the labor contracts associated with the employees that provide these services?

9) With regard to the Police and Fire Department, would they be in need of or required to secure additional apparatus to support the additional residential building in the Village?

10) Would Avalon Bay be paying prevailing rates for Water Services provided by the Village? If not what has been negotiated with regard to this service?

11) What study was performed to determine the amount of students to the school district the new apartments would generate, as well as the additional costs to the district, especially during the PILOT period?

If such studies, as requested in Q-7-11 above, were not performed how can you recommend the Avalon Bay proposal without knowing the associated costs which could potentially increase Village and School taxes to residents?

12) At this point are there any ongoing negotiations with Avalon Bay or are they awaiting a decision by the Board of Trustees? If so, what points are being negotiated and will the results be reported to the public in an amended report of the Mayor's Committee?

13) Could future negotiations be held and who could prompt such discussions?

14) If the Board of Trustees voted down your committee's recommendation, what would the process be to consider the other two alternatives, demolition and mothballing, and would they be voted on immediately?

A Crown Jewel

To the Editor:

Better make sure Avalon Bay builds with the same character of the homes and traditional buildings of Garden City. I didn't see any by looking at their website. As a third generation resident, I have seen this town become very relaxed of what is acceptable vs. unacceptable in terms of quality of construction and materials used and MOST of all keeping with the character of the town. We live in Garden City for one reason. Garden City is a beautiful town with beautiful homes!

Avalon communities are notoriously known to have dorm style "prefab" housing communities. Their quality of their construction can be compared to second rate at best and their prefab materials are/will be subpar to the character of Garden City... If you don't believe me take ride to other Avalon communities. Take a good look of their quality of their construction and the materials they use. Yes, it maybe to code but remember we as a town set the standard in terms of what it looks like. Because of these high standards/codes, Garden City has endured over the years while other towns have fallen into disarray. We as a town simply do not want to have another Garden City Hotel on our hands.

Some of you may not have lived here when this happened to our village in the late 60's early 70's. The Garden City hotel had 13-15 different plan renderings because the owner could not make up his mind. The owner at the time choose a plan and it was approved by the village. Then to cut costs it changed the quality of the materials. So if the plan specified historical colonial red brick at $2.00 a brick, then they must use it right? It was stated on the plan? Not the case here. As the brickwork started the Village kept trying to soothe the fears of the residents by saying it was going to look like the old one but better. But as each floor went up using ugly institutional looking brick at half the cost, people kept saying how the new hotel looks nothing like the one we all knew and loved. This is just one of many examples how the hotel was distorted from the original plans because the owner wanted or needed to cut cost and most of all how could the Village allowed this to happen? I'm sure everyone is finding the beautiful two story colonial town homes that are supposed to be built behind the hotel also? Yep, someone let that project slip through the cracks also. Nice work again.

St. Paul's is one of the last diamonds left in the crown of Garden City. The location itself has to make a statement on who we are as a town. Be weary of these companies that are known to produce prefab housing (dorm looking buildings). As what A.T. Stewart would probably say if he were alive today "Remember you are replacing a diamond in the crown. You wouldn't want to replace a real diamond with a plastic ruby would you?"

W.R. Lynch

Don't Be Fooled

To The Editor:

Don't believe the misleading and vague ads in the press by Avalon Bay for their proposal for rental apartments on St. Paul's property. It brings to mind the vague and expensive brochure sent to us earlier this year. This proposal for RENTAL apartments benefits Avalon Bay only.

Avalon Bay in their ads states that keeping the property will cost the residents money. This is totally FALSE as we are giving Avalon Bay a 99-year lease on the property with hardly any money upfront to us resulting in costing the residents of Garden City a lot MORE money in the form of increased property and school taxes to subsidize Avalon Bay's not paying their full share of these taxes for over twenty years.

The plan calls for a large amount of rental apartments which in turn will result in tenant, visitors and workers cars parked outdoors creating an eyesore on this beautiful property spoiling its beauty. Besides the nightmare of the years of construction, this project will attract tenants who want to attend our wonderful schools as this is not an age-limited project resulting in over crowding and our subsidizing them at over $17,000 per child since they will not be paying their full share of taxes for over twenty years. (This has happened in their Suffolk County project despite Avalon Bay stating it would not!) Avalon Bay's project will also create increase traffic in an already busy area across from our Middle School and next to our athletic fields (where will the parents park during games??) This project will strain our services - police, fire, water, sanitation and sewer. No study has been done by the Village or Avalon Bay.

Regarding Avalon Bay, a New York Times article of August 14, 2008 stated that they are being sued by the Justice Department for building violations in one of their projects in New York City. Also, the renters in the Glen Cove project are very upset because they did not keep their promises regarding amenities. This project is having problems.

The Hamlet of Oyster Bay/East Norwich recently defeated Avalon Bay's proposal and, in fact, had a large red boot at the village meeting and told Avalon Bay to scoot! At least their Village Trustees rejected the project and protected their township.

All I can say to our Village Trustees is shame on you for having spent thousands of our tax dollars exploring this deplorable project which in no way saves St. Paul's or benefits the residents but results only in ruining the property with over development and results in higher property and school taxes for us and mega congestion in the center of our town. For Avalon Bay to state in their ad "they will provide the village with a 'fair and equitable' share of the profits" is totally FALSE unless they mean at least ten and probably twenty years from now!

Shame on our Village Trustees for even considering this project with total disregard for this beautiful property or the residents' welfare!!! Think of us and reject this proposal!!

Rochelle Dowling

For the Board of the

Community Liaison

Committee of Garden City

Cutting Of

Tree Roots

To the Editor:

With all of the hullabaloo over St. Paul's' we are overlooking a failure of the Village Administration which jeopardizes a priceless asset and indeed, may endanger our citizens and homes. What is this failure? The answer deals with our magnificent trees, some soaring to 80 feet high.

In its zeal to have perfect curb lines and completely flat sidewalks, our Village fathers have been allowing contractors, hired by homeowners and the Village, to sever the massive tree root systems that the trees need for support in severe storms. By permitting, or failing to inspect the contractors' work near the sidewalk and curb, they have allowed the root system of these trees to be cut back to a 4' or 5' square. This is hardly enough to support a healthy tall tree.

Just this year, a severe wind storm brought down a number of Village trees on my street which had had their roots cuts during a previous curb replacement. Several years ago a large Village tree near the curb crashed down narrowly missing our bedroom. The impact almost knocked me out of bed. All of the blown down trees had a root system of only 4-5 feet square. The main roots which were cut and visible were 3-5 inches in diameter.

I personally took some of the cut root samples to the Village Engineering Department and was told that the root cutting was not important.

The large tree on my private property has an uncut root system extending out from the tree at least 20 feet. This allows the tree to have the support that it needs to withstand extreme wind conditions.

The roots of any tree that are in the path of the new curbs or sidewalks are now still being severely cut back, threatening these trees. My pleas to have this practice stopped have fallen on deaf ears. There are ways to install new curbs and sidewalks without injuring our trees.

When the tree blows down in many cases it is because the Village ignored sound construction techniques. The noninvolvement of the Village to monitor the contractors' practice has put beautiful healthy trees in danger as well as our homes and the personal safety of its citizens.

This practice should be stopped immediately by using aggressive inspectors that are able monitor the contractor's work. Don't leave this important asset in the hands of a contractor who's only desire is to complete the job as fast as he can without regard to the environment.

The Village is currently replacing many of the curbs and sidewalks and cutting these main roots. This practice must me stopped before it is too late. This will put you on notice regarding liability for the damage that this practice may cause.

Richard R. Dolan

Church Elevator Will Also Help Entertainments

The building of a new Church elevator at Saint Anne's Church this fall will not only help increase Church attendance for the elderly and handicapped but is sure to increase turnouts at future parish-sponsored charity entertainments in lower-level McCloskey auditorium, "Spirit Day" co-chairs John Parks and Marie Fischer recently noted.

"Spirit Day," the parish entertainment event of the year, will be held on Saturday, Sept. 13 from 1 to 10 P.M. on the grounds of Saint Anne's Church at Dartmouth St. and New Hyde Park Road, Garden City. Features will include Night at the Races, Teen Night Club, Respite Games, "Mom's" plant sale, and Craft Fair booths, a DJ all day and a live band all evening.

The parish has a coloful past history of creating its own versions of Broadway and Hollywood productions as well as sponsoring Irish stage reviews that have helped support local projects. Last year, returns from "Spirit Day/ Lucky Bucks" Sweepstakes helped support the refurbishing and transforming of a school auditorium into St. Therese Chapel, memorialzing the late Msgr. William F. Costello. A finalizing of this popular project recently involved the installation of beautiful art glass windows.

Moreover, "Msgr. John's Knights" have sponsored Irish entertainer Andy Cooney Concerts to help support Catholic high school sholarships for Saint Anne's graduates and the Saint Therese Chapel project.

The goal of the "Spirit Day/Lucky Bucks" Sweepstakes this year is to help build this Church Elevator. Entrants have a chance of winning $25,000 Grand Prize or one of five (5) $5,000 prizes. As many as five entrants may share a "Big Bucks" ticket.

Applications for Sweepstakes tickets at $125 each may be obtained at Saint Anne's Rectory, 35 Dartmouth St., Garden City or in the parish Weekly Bulletin. Non-parishioners are invited to participate. The prize levels are based on all 800 tickets having been sold. The prize levels will be adjusted proportionally downwards if the 800 level is not achieved. Winners will be announced at the end of "Spirit Day" activities--10 P.M., Saturday, Sept. 13. Good luck to all!