By Stephanie Mariel Petrellese

With only four meetings of the Garden City Board of Trustees remaining for the year, and with the knowledge that trustees have said a decision on the future of the historic Main Building at St. Paul's will be made by the last meeting on Dec. 18, residents once again turned out in force at the October 16th meeting to voice their opinion on this highly controversial community issue.

Some residents expressed distrust in AvalonBay's projection of the possible number of schoolchildren to be expected in their development. Garden City resident Matthew Whalen, AvalonBay's vice president of development, once again defended his company's calculation and suggested that concerned residents including Rochelle Dowling and Cathy Wood form a task force with Garden City Board of Education President Colleen Foley to conduct their own study on the possible impact.

At the Oct. 21st meeting of the Garden City Board of Education, Foley read a statement on behalf of the school board which vows to plan for any future influx of students by using the latest demographer's report, as well as redevelopment information specifically requested by the board from the Village.

"The school district will continue to request information regarding all redevelopment so we may determine how to responsibly plan for the education of students," Foley said. "We will collect information and remain independent in our own analysis to avoid any appearance of favoring one side or another."

Foley expressed concerned about a recent advertisement from AvalonBay entitled "How Many School Age Children at St. Paul's?" which was reviewed for accuracy by the Mayor's Committee. The school board claims the Village has not performed an independent analysis of the impact on the school district. Although the district gave the Village a copy of the latest demographic study, the Mayor's Committee has not directly requested information directly from the school district. AvalonBay provided its own analysis to the committee.

She said that any projections are estimates, and there is no way to know how many special needs children would enter the district, or how many children would attend private school. "Overall, however, we know that one of most consistent reasons families seek housing in our community is the high quality of the public school system," she said. "Accordingly, it is reasonable to anticipate that if there are families that move into St. Paul's, a good number will attend Garden City Public Schools."

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.

Trustee Donald Brudie said he has "no faith" in the developer's figures. He questioned the possible impact if empty nesters in the Village decide to sell their homes to young families and move into the AvalonBay development. These young families generally will produce more schoolchildren.

Resident Virginia Bolack, a speech language pathologist whose backyard abuts the St. Paul's property, warned that the number of special needs children may also rise considerably since the AvalonBay apartments will feature accommodations for the physically challenged. She reasoned that there may be an influx of parents of special needs children who decide to sell their homes in other towns and move into the AvalonBay apartments so their children can take advantage of the services provided by the Garden City School District. She predicted this will cost Village taxpayers a "small fortune."

Maureen Traxler, administrative and communications director for the Committee to Save St. Paul's, asked about the responses the Village is receiving from the link on the Village Web site established months ago for public comment on St. Paul's. Mayor Peter Bee said there have been varied responses. Trustee John Watras said there has been little support for AvalonBay. Second Deputy Mayor Thomas Lamberti responded that the Village has received approximately 90 responses: two were supporting AvalonBay, 75 were against the developer, and the remainder did not state a position.

Trustee Nicholas Episcopia addressed resident Allison Metzler's concern that a development would just add to the over urbanization of the area. He explained that when the Village was studying the $165 million, nine-story, luxury condominium project known as the Winston near the Mineola/Garden City border on Old Country Road, they found that if a project with the equivalent density was built on the 7-acre St. Paul's site, the building would have 987 units, or 141 units per acre. Currently, Garden City is negotiating with AvalonBay to construct 108 units, which would equal 15 units per acre. In another comparison, Hilton Hall has 49 units per acre, and the Wyndham has 17-18 units per acre.

He said trustees have not made up their minds. "Please understand I do not believe that this represents an urbanization or anything near close to what was going on in Mineola. That's just a fact," he said. Episcopia encouraged residents to visit the Eastern Property Owners' Association Web site and read the history of the St. Paul's issue. Metzler responded that it is urbanization because the multi-family project will be built in an area comprised mostly of single family homes.

Mayor Peter Bee expressed dismay at those residents who accuse the Board of not having an open mind. He said he will find the results of the Dec. 2nd Village-wide POA poll helpful in making his decision.

AvalonBay's vice president of development Matthew Whalen addressed some residents' concerns about the ground lease and the possibility that AvalonBay will sell the building after the tax benefits expire. Whalen said his company would agree to strict controls and cited as an example an agreement AvalonBay recently entered into with St. John the Divine in Manhattan. He also asked for specifics from those who accuse the company of selling other properties after tax credits.