The Village of Garden City will no longer have any input in what happens with the nine-story Winston project in Mineola now that the developer has decided to change the units from condominiums to rental apartments.

According to the Nassau County charter, when developers Polimeni International, LLC were planning to build a condominium complex, they were required to have their subdivision application approved by the Garden City Planning Commission because the building is within 300 feet of the Village. Now that they will rent the housing units, subdivision approval by the neighboring Village will no longer be required. The project, located at 250 Old Country Road between Willis Avenue and Main Street, will replace an office building currently on the site.

“We will now have nothing to say about that,” Garden City Mayor Robert Rothschild said at the July 15th meeting of the Garden City Board of Trustees. “That is their right to do, and I support them in doing what they felt they had to do.”

He was pleased with the response received by trustees on this issue from several Garden City residents. “We have gotten a few comments from people who have thanked the Village of Garden City for standing up and saying what we said about that project and what we thought about its size, density and closeness to the street.”

The apartments will be set back 15 feet from the road and measure 88 feet high, with an additional penthouse that would be set back from the façade but add 29 more feet to the building’s height. The proposed total floor-area-ratio, including the lower levels, will be 6.37, meaning the building will be more than six times as large as the property on which it is situated. The property is 87,868 square feet (or 2.02 acres) and the proposed building will measure 559,877 square feet.

The Village wanted the building further set back from the street, and the height reduced by two stories. “The Village of Garden City did what it had every right to do regarding the Winston project,” Mayor Rothschild said. “We didn’t overstep our bounds. We didn’t ask for anything special. We asked for what we had every right in the world to ask for.”

The Village of Garden City has been notified that a public hearing request originally scheduled to be held on July 14th was rescheduled to September 15 at 6:30 p.m. at Mineola Village Hall. The hearing will focus on the developer’s request to change the development from condos to rental apartments, and increase the number of units from 285 to 300.

Members of the Garden City Board of Trustees and the Central Property Owners’ Association, as well as residents living near the proposed development across the street in the Cherry Valley Co-operative Apartments, have been watching this issue closely for years. CPOA President Gary Kahn did not respond to an e-mail requesting comment.

Thomas Trypuc, a member of the board of directors of the Cherry Valley Co-operative Apartments, did not return a call seeking comment. Last May, Trypuc told the Garden City News that he was personally against the project because of the high levels of dirt and noise that would be created by demolition of the existing building. He was also concerned about disruption to electric and water service during demolition and construction. Traffic will be increased in an already busy area once the building is complete, he added.