By Stephanie Petrellese

As a Town of Hempstead zoning hearing on the proposed Lighthouse project approaches, several members of the Garden City Board of Trustees and the public spoke about the issue at the Sept. 10th Board meeting.

The Town of Hempstead has scheduled a zoning hearing on the proposed Lighthouse project for September 22. The hearing will be held at the John Cranford Adams Playhouse at Hofstra University from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., 2 to 5 p.m. and 6 to 9 p.m.

Trustee Episcopia said that he and Mayor Rothschild had a "successful" meeting with Mayor Wayne J. Hall, Sr. of the Inc. Village of Hempstead on September 17th, who also said he will attend and likely speak at the hearing. "I also had a very good conversation with Mayor Peter I. Cavallaro of the Village of Westbury and plan on visiting with him Friday or Monday," Trustee Episcopia said via e-mail. Robert Grover, PE of the engineering and construction services firm Greenman-Pederson, Inc. will also represent the Village and address water issues.

Trustees Nicholas Episcopia and Dennis Donnelly, who represent the Eastern section, have been especially vocal on the negative impact they believe this project, especially the proposed retail space, will have on the Village.

The proposed Lighthouse project, which is estimated to cost $3.74 billion, will redevelop the current Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum site in Uniondale and include a new multi-purpose athletic complex, conference and exhibition facilities, a minor league ballpark, luxury five-star hotel, 500,000 square feet of new retail space and one million square feet of new office space.

Donnelly presented a dreary picture of the current economy. He said there is 11 million square feet of office space in the mid-Nassau area, 12 to 16 percent of which is currently vacant. Garden City has approximately 1.7 million square feet of office space and 800,000 square feet of retail space.

"Rents are in decline, landlord concessions have increased dramatically, sublet office space in Manhattan can be had at 40 to 50 percent of current rates, retail is in the worst shape in decades," he said. "Water, air quality and urbanization-they are all concerns that this Village should have with this project."

He continued by listing numerous housing developments in the area he says are not considered in the project's environmental impact statement, including but not limited to, the Winston project in North Hempstead, with 285 units of housing; the 250 Old Country Road project, with 257 proposed units of housing; the Archstone apartments, with 420 rental units; and Meadowbrook Pointe, with 350 condo units.

"Who is looking at the Lighthouse as it relates to Nassau as a whole?" he asked. "The county is very much for this project. Hempstead is looking at Hempstead, nobody is looking at North Hempstead. There are 1,600 additional residences being developed currently in addition to the Lighthouse right in our area...How many more cars? How much more water can we afford to supply them?

"We will be a community divided by a railroad, we will be divided into sections," he continued. "The balkanization of the Village will be the single most detrimental element the Village has ever faced. I urge all of our trustees, as well as our residents, to vocally and vociferously protest this overthought, overplanned, oversized boondoggle."

Applause erupted in the Village Hall boardroom after Donnelly's last remark. "We should take the Lighthouse to the outhouse."

Trustee Episcopia said when the project was in its initial stages nobody mentioned that it would include 500,000 square feet of new retail space. According to Episcopia, plans were to include just enough retail to support the new residences.

Mayor Robert Rothschild said he has been working behind the scenes to ensure the Village's concerns are heard and plans to meet soon with developer Charles Wang. "I have done things that I don't feel are appropriate to be discussing in public," Rothschild said.

Walter McKenna, president of the Eastern Property Owners' Association, said he found it "astonishing" that the Mayor has not asked government relations and public affairs consulting firm Whiteman Osterman & Hanna, LLP why they did not know and inform the Village that the Nassau County Planning Commission was holding a bidders' conference on July 23rd. The Village hired the firm in December of 2008 to research how current transportation proposals and those in development could affect Garden City.

Mayor Rothschild said he would contact the firm. The Garden City News attempted to contact the Mayor a few days after the meeting for an update, but received no response.

Christine Mullaney, the corresponding secretary of the Eastern Property Owners' Association, pointedly asked the Board if they supported entering into litigation to stop the Lighthouse project. Mayor Rothschild said the Board of Trustees would not discuss the possibility of any future litigation.

Garden City resident Dorothy Episcopia said everyone from all sections of the Village needs to get involved in opposing this development. "There is an urgency here," she said. "We are looking to preserve our business community, to preserve our neighborhoods, and to just slow this project down. It would be irresponsible not to."

Resident Leo Stimmler calculated the project would result in a net loss of 350 million gallons of water to the area. Combined with the expansion of Covanta Energy, located at 600 Merchants Concourse in Westbury, the area may see a total loss of 600 million gallons of water. The Covanta facility is Long Island's largest waste-to-energy plant and provides municipal solid waste disposal for the Town of Hempstead.

Stimmler said he spoke to a member of the Village's Environmental Advisory Board, who agreed this is a "real problem" since water is a finite resource. He also spoke to a professor at Hofstra University who said this project may also affect the quality of the water supply since it will cause the water table to drop and surface contaminant to be absorbed into the aquifers.

Stimmler also expressed concerns with developer Charles Wang, who heads Computer Associates, known as CA. He said a Nov. 27, 2006 article from "Fortune" magazine names CA "America's Most Dysfunctional Company."

"I am very nervous, I'm frightened that Mr. Wang, who in the opinion of 'Fortune' ran America's most dysfunctional company, is asking for $700 million in stimulus money," Stimmler said. "We also have a very serious quantitative and qualitative water problem."

Mayor Robert Rothschild, Trustees Nicholas Episcopia and Dennis Donnelly and possibly Village Administrator Robert L. Schoelle, Jr. are expected to speak during the morning portion of the hearing. Trustee Episcopia told The Garden City News that other members of the Eastern Property Owners' Association, including his wife Dorothy, also plan to make a statement. He was unsure as of press time which EPOA directors would speak.