By Stephanie Mariel Petrellese

The Garden City Board of Trustees took two steps closer to deciding the fate of the historic main building at St. Paul's at its Oct. 2nd meeting, as more than 100 residents crowded into the Village Hall boardroom and hallway.

In its first action, trustees officially requested the property owners' associations, individually or as a group, to conduct a Village-wide poll offering residents three options for the property: move forward with the AvalonBay proposal as detailed in the Report of the Mayor's Committee on St. Paul's released in July; demolish the building; or maintain the building in its current condition.

Mayor Peter A. Bee was called upon to break a tie vote which focused on how many options should be offered. Second Deputy Mayor Thomas Lamberti and Trustees Donald Brudie, Gerard Lundquist and John Watras opposed offering three options and Mayor Bee, Deputy Mayor John Mauk and Trustees Nicholas Episcopia and Robert Rothschild voted for the options. The Mayor broke the tie in the affirmative.

Even though he acknowledged that mothballing "doesn't make sense," Mauk amended Mayor Bee's original resolution which offered two choices, AvalonBay or demolition, and added mothballing as a third option for those residents who do not want private development or destruction.

The Mayor's Report does not recommend mothballing, which it calls "a waste of time and money." Mauk has repeatedly stated that he believes demolition is the only option if AvalonBay is not selected. As former chairman of the Mayor's Committee on St. Paul's, he has said all other avenues have been explored, and nobody has been able to come up with another viable option for the building.

Resident Bill Bellmer reminded everyone that those who do not want AvalonBay or demolition can simply go into the voting booth and not pull a lever. The fact that they voted will still be registered, but neither option will be designated.

In a separate vote of 5 to 3, the Board decided to ask the property owners' associations, individually or as a group, to conduct the three-question poll. Mayor Bee explained that, although not legally bound to carry out a Board objective, the POAs have traditionally honored their official requests. Second Deputy Mayor Thomas Lamberti and Trustees John Watras and Donald Brudie voted against the item.

In another vote of 7 to 1, trustees voted to set a deadline for the Board to make a final decision on the fate of the building by December 18, which is the last Board meeting of the year. Trustee Brudie, who in recent months has criticized the AvalonBay proposal and stated his opposition to the plan, voted against setting the deadline.

The questions to be posed to residents in the POA opinion poll have been the subject of much debate. At the last Board meeting on Sept. 11, trustees spent the majority of time on the issue. The four POAs, who each have representatives who meet together as part of the Joint Conference Committee of property owners' associations, were not able to agree after several meetings and the poll, which had been originally scheduled for October 7th, had to be cancelled.

Mayor Bee said he hoped this will be a joint effort. Dennis Donnelly, president of the Eastern Property Owners' Association and chair of the JCC, told the Garden City News that since the meeting, preliminary discussions have been held but no decisions have been made.

More than 100 residents, some wearing white T-shirts with "No Way AvalonBay" printed on the back, packed the boardroom to share their views on how the vote should be presented to the public and also, what should be done with the building. The majority either voiced opposition to the AvalonBay proposal or clapped in support of those who did.

Mayor Bee was criticized by some residents when he unsuccessfully tried to limit public comment. He called for a vote to stop public comment on agenda items at 8:30 p.m. He explained that trustees had actually been at Village Hall since 7 for a budget work session, and had to tend to some legal matters later during an anticipated executive session. When his idea was voted down by the Board, public comment continued. Later in the evening when he realized the meeting was not going to end before 11, the Mayor asked Village Counsel Gerard Fishberg to release attorneys who were waiting for the executive session.

The Mayor and Board were also criticized for not holding the meeting at another location. Residents crowded into the boardroom and into the hall, making for an often very tense and uncomfortable situation.

"Before the last meeting, neither the Committee to Save St. Paul's nor any other group had the courtesy to inform us that a large group of their followers would attend," Mayor Bee responded to the Garden City News after the meeting. "Although some people did not have seats, everybody who wanted to speak to the board was granted that opportunity."

Every meeting agenda says speakers are entitled to three minutes, but it is a rule that is rarely enforced. However, at last Thursday's meeting, Village Clerk Brian Ridgway was responsible for keeping track of the time. Speakers who wanted to continue with their comments were allowed to return to the podium after the first round of speakers.

Acknowledging the importance of St. Paul's, Mayor Bee nonetheless expressed a desire at the meeting to move forward with other issues of which residents and the Board should be concerned. "In my opinion, I think we need to be focusing our attention on providing clean water, the Hub transportation issue, housing litigation, disposal of trash, the budget-there are a number of issues that are at least, or more, important than the St. Paul's issue and that is one of the reasons why this Board has to get on with other business."

In a room that at times was filled with derision as people questioned his company's motives and record in other communities, Garden City resident Matthew Whalen, AvalonBay's vice president of development, defended his company's reputation. "The amount of divisiveness that is created troubles our company, and it troubles me, frankly," he said.

Some residents questioned AvalonBay's solubility given the country's current economic crisis. "AvalonBay's not a bank," Whalen responded. "We have a $10 billion balance sheet. We are a real estate investment trust. And if someone is concerned about the risk related to choosing AvalonBay to develop this property, they should think about the other alternatives that the trustees and the Mayor's Committee deemed inappropriate as viable solutions."

He continued: "Someone else said, 'Let's go to a vote,' and everyone clapped. And I agree. Let's go to a vote. This process has gone on for three years. It's been very divisive within the community."

Whalen disputed a resident's claim that AvalonBay's mission statement is "a commitment to our shareholders" and said his business card says his company's purpose is to "enhance the lives of our residents." The mission statement on the company's Web site is "Enhancing the lives of our residents," but a description underneath in smaller lettering claims their goal is also to maximize return for stockholders.

He also wished to correct misinformation circulating about the number of possible estimated schoolchildren to be generated by a development. Multifamily dwellings traditionally have a minimal impact on school districts, and Whalen reminded residents that Garden City already has 900 of these dwellings. "Somehow everyone thinks that our residents will be completely different from those 900," he said.

According to Bert Cunningham, an AvalonBay proposal spokesperson, the latest Garden City school district data for multifamily complexes with 50 or more units shows that 30 school-age children were generated by 900 units, which is .03 students per unit. Based on that statistic, which reflects economic demographics specific to Garden City, AvalonBay's 108 units would generate 3.24 school-age children.

At five AvalonBay communities across Long Island, 262 school-age children were generated by approximately 1,621 units, which equates to .16 school-age children per unit. If that factor is applied to the 108 units at St. Paul's, it equates to 17 school-age children. Cunningham said that for planning purposes, and to be conservative, AvalonBay averaged the Garden City school district data, of .03 students per unit, and their Long Island experience, of .16 students per unit, to project the potential of 8 school-age children at St. Paul's.

"AvalonBay believes their estimate for St. Paul's is conservative, because the units at St. Paul's will have a higher per-month rent than most units in the Village, and over half of the people who occupy AvalonBay units across the Island are under 35 and have no children," Cunningham told the Garden City News via e-mail after the meeting.

Another part of the proposal involving payments in lieu of taxes, known as PILOTs, was criticized by several residents and Trustee Donald Brudie. According to the proposal, AvalonBay will be permitted to give the Village PILOTs for 20 years, for a total of $3.6 million. If the Village was to collect full taxes on the property during that 20-year period, the total would be $30.7 million.

Brudie has argued that residents will have to make up the $27.1 million difference. He also has stated his opposition at the length of the ground lease, which is 99 years.

"This is insanity in its best form...This is going to change Garden City in a way that I think we can't imagine," he said, adding that he thinks it will "destroy" the Village and detract from its beauty.

Whalen reminded everyone that the other proposals being seriously considered by the Mayor's Committee on St. Paul's before AvalonBay was officially designated all contained a PILOT. "Our PILOT is one we would love to eliminate if it was not a financial reality of the application," he said.

According to Whalen, the company has added new things to its proposal, including revenue sharing. "People forget about the $56 million that the Village could get in the first 35 years," he said. "Everyone's focused on the near-term. This is a long-term issue for the Village. We hope to be a part of it."