By Stephanie Mariel Petrellese

The large group of residents who spoke at recent meetings of the Garden City Board of Trustees did not go unnoticed by AvalonBay representatives, who announced at the Board meeting on November 6th that they have took some of their concerns to heart and have made several changes to their St. Paul's proposal.

"We listened very carefully to the comments made by both Village trustees and residents at recent Board meetings and have sought to accommodate as many of the suggestions made as possible," said Matt Whalen, AvalonBay's vice president for development, in a statement released to the press after the meeting. "We understood the concerns raised and firmly believe that our enhanced proposal for St. Paul's provides additional financial guarantees and incentives that will benefit the Village and its residents as we save and preserve a unique building."

Their altered proposal will:

* Accelerate and increase payments in lieu of taxes (PILOTs) to the Village. In the first five years, the Village will receive more than $1 million in PILOTs under the new schedule, as compared to $79,556 in the original schedule. Payments continue to increase annually so that by the twentieth year, the Village will receive a total of $6.1 million in PILOTs. In the original schedule, that total was $3.5 million. In year 21 and beyond, full property taxes are paid.

* Mitigate the potential impact on local public schools of school-age children living at St. Paul's by reducing the number of two- and three-bedroom units by a total of eight and increasing the number of one-bedroom units while keeping the overall number at 108. And, set aside 20 of the 108 units for seniors 55 years of age and older. Garden City residents will get preference on the age-restricted units. There will likely be minor changes to the footprint of the building due to these changes.

* Provide $1 million to the Village for improvements at Cluett Hall and/or Feringa Field House. The Village will decide upon the improvements to be made and AvalonBay will do the work. With AvalonBay doing the work as part of the St. Paul's project, the value of the improvements could be as much as $2 million due to economies of scale.

* Provide full-time public use for Village residents of the chapel along with the West Parlor located on the first floor. AvalonBay will make the improvements to both spaces, totaling approximately 5,000 square feet, at no cost to the Village. The Village will have full control and use of the facilities.

* Underwrite the cost of providing 120 new parking spaces for the ball fields without taking away any of the field space. AvalonBay could assist with the planning and construction of the new spaces, which will accommodate the overflow that occurs informally near the Main Building on busy "athletic" weekends.

* Provide the Village with additional controls in writing over any potential sale of St. Paul's after AvalonBay completes its $54 million preservation plan. The protections will be the same as those agreed upon by AvalonBay with St. John the Divine Cathedral in Manhattan for a recently completed project.

Second Deputy Mayor Thomas Lamberti, who chairs the Mayor's Committee on St. Paul's, said he felt a "sense of frustration and disappointment" that AvalonBay representatives did not first share the alterations with the committee.

"It leaves me with a sense of being used," he said. "What you have done here tonight to me is a denigration of the process...Now, if you're going to add 5,000 square feet of public space, it leaves me with a lack of confidence in your credibility and I'm very disappointed in that."

He said the committee and Village spent a lot of time and money trying to get the best financial deal from AvalonBay. Even though the developer has made the deal more profitable for the Village, Lamberti said he is left wondering whether they can add even more benefits.

Whalen responded that he had the understanding that the Mayor's Committee role was now solely to review the accuracy of communications that AvalonBay wished to distribute to the public. He said it was unfair of Lamberti to say he didn't know about the new proposal elements since many of them had been discussed at some time during negotiations between the two sides. Whalen also said he believed it to be "very inappropriate" for him to go to Lamberti with the details since Lamberti has publicly expressed his disapproval of the proposal.

Whalen said AvalonBay was able to make these offers to the Village since the cost of construction, oil, labor and materials has gone down. "That has allowed us the financial flexibility to make enhancements to our proposal," he explained. "In addition, some of this is us just leaning in further to try and make a better proposal." He emphasized that this is the company's "best and final deal."

Mayor Peter Bee sided with Whalen, saying that some modification of the proposal was desired by the Board. "I don't think that anyone should leave here tonight saying that members of this board are stunned and surprised that at this point in time AvalonBay came back and made some adjustment to their proposal. What the nature of those adjustments was to be, no one knew six months ago. But I think six months ago everybody sitting up here knew that there would be some modification. That was a material part of the reason that we asked you [AvalonBay] to bring your proposal to the public and get public feedback."

Peter Negri, president of the Committee to Save St. Paul's, criticized AvalonBay's new "enhancements" by bringing up an October, 2007 report from Karen Backus during Deputy Mayor John Mauk's tenure as chair of the Mayor's Committee. The report called for a 35-year PILOT schedule, with a present value of $28.5 million. The newly proposed PILOT schedule is for 20 years and has a total value of $6.1 million. According to Negri, the present value of $6.1 million over 20 years is approximately $3 to $3.5 million. "How is that an enhancement to $28.5 million?" he asked. "Perhaps my math is bad, but to me that sounds like a gross deterioration."

He said Backus' report also calls for 99 units in a building three stories high totaling 48,000 gross square feet. AvalonBay's proposal has 108 units in a four story building totaling 78,000 gross square feet (minus a few square feet depending if the number of bedrooms per unit is reconfigured). "So please tell me where the enhancements are in terms of dollars and density."

Bert Cunningham, an AvalonBay proposal spokesperson, told the Garden City News that AvalonBay would have no comment.

The Board unanimously voted to request a new site plan from AvalonBay. Lamberti especially wants to see where the 5,000 square feet of public space will be allocated, and how the additional parking spaces will be configured. Mayor Bee said the Board has the option to exempt the public space from the additional parking requirements, or can turn down the offer of public space entirely. Superintendent of Buildings Michael Filippon roughly estimated that 60 additional spaces will be needed if the 5,000 square feet is allocated for public use.

In another unanimous vote, trustees also approved a motion to have financial consultant Greenwich Group International Inc. and consultant Karen Backus meet with AvalonBay representatives to verify that this is a reasonable business deal. Mayor Bee said he would still like "closure" by the December 18th Board of Trustees meeting. Last month the Board had decided to make a decision by their last meeting of the year.

The changes will not affect the scheduled Village-wide Dec. 2nd opinion poll, according to Dennis Donnelly, president of the Eastern Property Owners' Association. Residents will still be asked to select one of three propositions: AvalonBay, demolition or mothballing.

Donnelly told the Garden City News that he asked AvalonBay representatives to submit an addendum to the Mayor's Committee report detailing the changes so the public can review them before voting. Copies of the Mayor's Committee report are available at Village Hall, at the Garden City Public Library and on the Village Web site,

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