Residents Hungry For Lighthouse News

At press time, local media outlets were reporting conflicting reports about whether developer Charles Wang has abandoned the Lighthouse project and has started to reorganize his company beginning with top-level executives. On Wednesday evening, the Long Island Press weekly was reporting that the deal was dead. But on Thursday morning Mr. Wang denied that he had pulled out of the project.

However, on Tuesday evening, the proposed $3.74 billion project was still very much alive, and evidently on the minds of many residents attending a meeting of the Eastern Property Owners’ Association.

“We simply don’t see why this is necessary....Why do you have to build a small city to refurbish a sports arena?” questioned Nicholas Episcopia, who along with Dennis Donnelly, represents the Eastern section of the Village on the Garden City Board of Trustees.

Trustees Episcopia and Donnelly have been especially vocal on the negative impact they believe this project, especially the proposed retail space, will have on the Village. The proposed project would 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.

“If we have a big diminution in our tax base because of the lack of tenancy and a decline in value, that is going to hurt us very, very much,” Episcopia said. “We’re already getting clobbered with tax certiorari payments that we have to give back to commercial developers, and all of these suits that we essentially just lost. We do not need any more of this. It will have a very serious economic effect on us.”

Donnelly reminded residents that although Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi is seriously considering a possible light rail system positioned in the center of Nassau County connecting Long Island Rail Road train stations with activity centers, Lighthouse developers have said they are not involved in any plans to build a transportation system.

“We have said continuously that the light rail is not part of this project,” said Art McCarthy, alternate governor of the New York Islanders and a resident of the Eastern section of Garden City. “I think that has been clear, not withstanding some of the letters that Kate Murray has been writing, especially to the Village residents of Garden City.”

When contacted by The Garden City News the next day, Susie Trenkle-Pokalsky, press secretary for the Town of Hempstead, responded: “Mr. McCarthy is confused. The Supervisor and Councilman for the district sent a letter to residents expressing their opposition to a light rail plan that was included in a Nassau County request for proposals. There was no claim that this was part of the Lighthouse proposal.”

Donnelly said a meeting is planned at the end of the month between the Village and county to get an update on the issue. “Believe me, all of us on the Board of Trustees will do anything we have to do within our power to stop that [light rail] from happening,” he said.

The trustees, as well as many residents, are also concerned about the Lighthouse project’s effect on the water supply. Eastern section resident Leo Stimmler has 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.

The developer has proposed building a new well, which would draw water from the same aquifer. “I guess we view it as it’s one big glass of water and that’s just another straw in the same glass,” Donnelly said. He added that the Village spends a lot of money keeping their water supply clean.

When it comes to the water issue, McCarthy defended Lighthouse developers. Originally, the Village of Garden City and the Lighthouse project shared the same water consultant, H2M. When the Village realized this, they hired another consultant firm, Greenman-Pedersen, Inc., for this project only.

McCarthy claimed at the EPOA meeting that H2M tried four times to reach a representative at Greenman-Pedersen by telephone before the September Town of Hempstead hearing to offer any information they might have needed before speaking before the Town Board. None of the calls were returned, McCarthy claims. “That’s a head-scratcher. Especially before that individual wanted to make some statements, you would think the firm would want all of the information.”

Donnelly said he could not comment on McCarthy’s allegations, but did say the Village is looking to hire another independent consultant. “We have a lot of problems with our water consultant.”

When approached the day after the meeting for clarification, Donnelly responded, “Our problem with our water consultant was that H2M was representing both entities and therefore we hired Greenman-Pedersen. We have not had a problem with Greenman and are very satisfied with their work. If H2M called Greenman and the call wasn’t returned, it would be speculation on my part to attempt to garner why.”

The trustees are also concerned about the impact on traffic. Episcopia said the Village reached out to surrounding villages including Hempstead and Mineola. “So we did try to approach this as this not being a NIMBY thing,” he said. “It’s something that would affect all of the communities around us.”

McCarthy explained that the lease with the Islanders calls for a “first-class facility.” Two years after Wang purchased the team, the county told him that they could not make the repairs. “This was an overall economic deal that was negotiated through a series of years. We have been at this for eight years. Information has been available to the Town of Hempstead for two years. Kate Murray chose to ignore that. That is our Town supervisor. We can’t help the fact that she chose to ignore it. Now we’re at decision time.”

When contacted by The Garden City News the next day, Susie Trenkle-Pokalsky, press secretary for the Town of Hempstead, responded: “The Town has had this project for only 20 months. The town is still awaiting answers from the applicant to some key questions that were raised at the zoning hearing. Those include: How the developer will deal with traffic congestion, where the water supply will come from and even, how many buildings will be constructed. These are the same questions that every developer that comes before the Town Board is asked to answer.”

McCarthy also claimed that requests by Lighthouse developers to give a presentation at an EPOA meeting have been repeatedly denied. When contacted the next day by The Garden City News, EPOA President Walter McKenna adamantly refuted his claim. He said neither he nor any of the last three EPOA presidents have been approached by Lighthouse developers seeking to give a presentation.

Donnelly responded to McCarthy at the EPOA meeting. “Noone is looking to not have the coliseum renovated,” he said. “Everybody I’m sure thinks that’s a great idea. But as people talk about, ‘well, this is NIMBYism for Garden City,’ to a great degree it is. But would we sit by and let our neighborhood be destroyed and say but we’re not NIMBY, not in my backyard?”

McCarthy said developers do not share the same view. “We have the most to lose because we are part of an ownership group that controls the Omni, that controls RXR Towers, that owns the Marriott, so we control and own all of that real estate in that area. Why would we make these foolish decisions if it wasn’t in everyone’s best interest?” he asked. He added that the presidents of both Hofstra University and Nassau Community College support the proposed project.

“They all benefit, and I agree with you, except I couldn’t care less about any of them,” Donnelly responded. “I only care about the residents of this Village, and this Village is the one that would be affected. I think if you look at the responses of every corner of the Village, you see how the people of this Village feel. “

Some Eastern section residents expressed their thoughts at the meeting. Robert Orosz claims the project is “a lie being built on another lie” for several reasons. He said the proposed housing is not affordable, as was being promoted, and the jobs the project will create are spread over the entire United States. “The dream is turning into a nightmare,” he said. “I think people should really be told exactly what is being done, and how it’s being done, and I think people believe what they think they’re going to believe. The devil is in the details, and the details are coming out, and they stink.”

Leo Stimmler said he is concerned with developer Charles Wang, who headed Computer Associates, known as CA. He said a Nov. 27, 2006 article from “Fortune” magazine named CA “America’s Most Dysfunctional Company.”

When contacted the next day by The Garden City News, McCarthy questioned the relevancy of the article to the Lighthouse issue. He also said Wang is a very generous and philanthropic person. He is co-founder and chairman of SmileTrain, which has performed more than 500,000 free surgeries to correct cleft lips and palates worldwide. Wang is also a supporter and long-time partner of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, and has donated millions of dollars to the cause, according to McCarthy. Several years ago, Wang donated $55 million to SUNY Stony Brook, which at the time was the largest single donation made to a college or university in the New York State system.