By Stephanie Mariel Petrellese

If the results of the Village opinion polls weren't bad enough, AvalonBay's proposal took another hit when Senator Kemp Hannon posted a message on his Web site announcing that a consensus has not been reached in favor of obtaining the necessary legislation to override the parkland designation.

"In light of the vote and in light of the other surveys and polls, I judge the possibility of State legislation as not having attained a consensus of the residents," he says on his Web site, www.senatorhannon.com. "Obviously my comments only address one part of the situation. At this point it is essential the community works with one another in considering the next steps."

Of the 5,002 residents who voted in the Dec. 2nd Village-wide survey conducted by the Estates and Eastern Property Owners' Associations, 45.4 percent, or 2,272 people, selected demolition. The mothballing option came in second with 1,857 votes and 37.1 percent of the vote, and the AvalonBay proposal fell behind with 873 votes, which totaled 17.4 percent. Two people did not vote: someone who was not able to verify residency and Mayor Peter A. Bee, who said he wanted to hear from the public before making his decision.

The polls separately conducted by the Central and Western Property Owners' Associations of residents in their respective sections reveal the overwhelming majority of residents are against the Village entering into a development deal with AvalonBay. In the Central section, the majority (402) of the 572 surveys returned were against the developer. In the West, out of 231 responses, 206 said "no" to AvalonBay and 25 said "yes."

Throughout the lengthy debate on St. Paul's, Senator Hannon has been emphatic that he would not introduce legislation in Albany to change the property's parkland designation unless there was widespread public support. Without the legislation, the land can strictly be used for public purposes only.

Almost four years ago, on December 16, 2004, the mayor at the time, Barbara K. Miller, successfully introduced a resolution designating the 48 acres of St. Paul's property as parkland. The land had been in a public trust, a designation which is less defined and understood. Either way, restrictions on land use can only be changed by the state legislature through the alienation process.

Mayor Bee released this statement to the Garden City News after reading Senator Hannon's comments:

"As a practical matter, the Village has long known that it could not pursue private use of the St. Paul's 'main building site' without Senator Hannon's assistance, and certainly the recent advisory poll results show that our residents do not have a 'broad consensus' (the pre-condition set down by Senator Hannon) in favor of the AvalonBay proposal. Sadly, however, I have not yet been convinced that any other development proposal makes practical or financial sense."

When contacted by the Garden City News, AvalonBay proposal spokesman Bert Cunningham said Matthew Whalen, AvalonBay's vice president for development, would have no comment.