Board Takes Next Step With AvalonBay
By Stephanie Mariel Petrellese
 

With Valentine's Day just one week away, the Village of Garden City and AvalonBay took their relationship to the next level at the Board of Trustees' Feb. 7th meeting with the approval of a Memorandum of Understanding. However, wedding bells won't be ringing any time soon: Both sides are aware that there are many major obstacles to overcome before their union is consummated.

On October 4th, the Board of Trustees ratified the decision made by the Mayor's Committee on St. Paul's to designate AvalonBay Communities, Inc. as the exclusive developer of the St. Paul's property. Since that time, the Village and developer have been busy working on a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), which, although not legally binding, details expectations on both sides.

"There are a lot of pieces on this plan," said Deputy Mayor John Mauk, who serves as chairman of the Mayor's Committee on St. Paul's. "The MOU is really an attempt to spell out this roadmap, this plan if you will, of how we get to the end result so we can pre-sent to the public an option which we think will hopefully work for saving St. Paul's."

The eleven-page MOU, among other things, lists what is required to complete the transaction between the two parties. One of the biggest and initial obstacles will be obtaining the necessary Home Rule legislation and relief from Parkland designation from state legislators. Senator Kemp Hannon has emphasized that he will only go forward in Albany to secure the necessary Home Rule legislation and relief from Park-land designation if he sees widespread public support for one proposal. Without the legislation, the land can strictly be used for public purposes only.

AvalonBay is now drafting proposals to present to the Board in executive session by the end of February. Mauk said the plans will provide more details, including how much additional development is needed, what and how much space will be designated for public use and how much subsidy will be required from the Village.

Five trustees voted for the MOU, Second Deputy Mayor Thomas Lamberti and Trustee John Watras voted against it, and Trustee Donald Brudie was absent. One of the dissenting trustees' main points of contention was a clause that calls for AvalonBay to conduct, or support the conduct by the Village, "of one or more polls or other activities by a professional entity to measure the opinions and views of the residents of the Village regarding the Project..." The developer would also be responsible for footing the bill.

The Board of Trustees will ultimately be the ones to decide what method to use to gauge public opinion. However, Watras and Lamberti said they are against a poll, and would like a public vote or referendum to be held.

Second Deputy Mayor Thomas Lamberti claimed Deputy Mayor John Mauk said at a meeting of his committee that a telephone poll will be conducted. When contacted days after the Board meeting, Mauk claims Lamberti misunderstood what transpired at the Mayor's Committee meeting.

According to Mauk, he said that public relations experts report that a telephone poll is the most accurate measuring tool. However, Mauk said he added that he does not think Garden City residents would be satisfied with the method. Lamberti claims that he can provide witnesses who heard Mauk say a telephone poll would be used.

"This is a very sensitive and difficult issue," Mauk said at the Board meeting. "There has been a lot of discussion on it. There is a diversity of opinion about how we should proceed on this."

In what has become a common occurrence when the subject of St. Paul's is raised, Lamberti and Mauk continued their verbal wrangling throughout the Board meeting. Mayor Peter Bee was forced to restore order when Mauk accused Lamberti of lying by saying he said a telephone poll would be conducted.

"There you go again with 'Tom's truths,' which are not truths," Mauk said. "You have crossed the line tonight and you are really telling absolute untruths with some of the things that you say. The reason that we have difficulty proceeding is absolutely for the reason that comes out very clear tonight, and that is that you take mis-information and incomplete information, you distort it and turn it into your own views and you present it as though it's factual when it's absolutely not."

Lamberti responded that Mauk needs to exert more self-control. "I sit here accused of being a liar. I don't take that kindly...I have not misrepresented a single fact."

Mayor Bee also had to intervene when Mauk digressed in another speech with a personal attack. "Mr. Lamberti is the sort of person who likes to stand on the corner as the parade marches down the street and throw rocks at it because he wasn't selected as the band leader," he said. Several residents in the audience also did not appreciate the comment and shouted in outrage.

Mauk told The Garden City News days after the meeting that he was sorry for calling Lamberti a liar. However, he continued with accusations that Lamberti purposely uses tactics to delay resolution of the St. Paul's issue. According to Mauk, Lamberti waits until the last possible minute to raise issues, and when they are not addressed the way he wants, he continues to persist with his opinion.

Mauk said an example is the polling issue. Lamberti wanted the MOU to provide a specific way to gauge public opinion, but since it was not included in the final draft, he chose to raise the issue again at the Board meeting.

"You have insisted that your issues be dealt before we can move on and I don't think that is an effective way to deal with things," Mauk said at the Board meeting. "AvalonBay is trying to work with us to get involvement together. We have an obligation I think both to the Village and to this community to work together to that end."

Mauk has officially asked Lamberti to resign from the Mayor's Committee and admitted not inviting him to the committee meeting on Feb. 7th. The mayor is the only one with the authority to remove a trustee from a committee and a source familiar with the matter told the News that he is close to exerting his power.

"I have no comment," Mayor Bee told The Garden City News through Village spokesman Brad O'Hearn.

Lamberti was angry that he was not on the e-mail invite list, but was able to attend the meeting after learning about it from another member. "This government serves the people well when it permits democracy in action...The key word is participation," he said at the Board meeting. "If you don't participate and you're not allowed to participate as an elected official you can't serve the interests of the people...Something is wrong with this government when the process is ignored or trampled upon."

In a phone call with The Garden City News days after the meeting, Lamberti said he has no plans to step down from the Mayor's Committee. He denied employing specific delay tactics and claimed he is just trying to get all of the facts out to the public. Calling himself an "advocate for transparency," he accused the entire Board of not doing a good enough job of disseminating information to residents.

Mauk said at the Board meeting that there will be "plenty of public input opportunities." "We're very close to having something which we think will offer a solution for saving the building," he said. "You can decide whether you want that later on, but let's get the facts out."

Several residents who spoke at the meeting were frustrated that copies of the MOU were not made available to the public prior to the meeting. Mauk acknowledged that there was no legal reason why copies could not have been distributed. The Board historically does not release materials to the public before a vote is taken at a meeting. Critics argued that an exception should have been made given the sensitivity of the St. Paul's issue.

"If there is nothing to be threatened by, if there's nothing to hide by it, why not share it with the public?" questioned Central Property Owners' Association President Pat DiMattia. "I'm disappointed by the process. I'm disappointed that it was approved. But my main disappointment is the public once again is not involved."

Michael Ciaffa of the Committee to Save St. Paul's said the memo should have been released to the public before the meeting so residents could add their comments and concerns. He believes the MOU should address several legal issues, including the alienation of park-land.

"This Board knows St. Paul's has been an extremely contentious issue, and one in which there has been past litigation, some of which was extremely successful," he said. "The Village is under an injunction from the State Supreme Court against taking certain ac-tions. While its initial exploration of the possible alienation of this park-land may have been within its discretion, depending on how the Memorandum of Understanding is worded, it may or may not meet legal requirements."

Village Counsel Gerard Fishberg told the Garden City News after the meeting that the MOU says alienation is needed. He stressed that the MOU is simply a roadmap; it doesn't get into the details. Any legal issues involving alienation, as well as several other matters, will be explored at a later date.

Copies of the MOU are now available on the Village's Web site,

www.gardencityny.net/gcvillage

at Village Hall and in the Garden City Public Library.