Garden City Mayor Robert Rothschild recently announced that there are currently no plans to move the Family Court from Westbury to the former Nassau County Dept. of Social Services building in Garden City. The Mayor was called upon to address the issue after a resident expressed her disapproval of the idea at this month’s meeting of the Garden City Board of Trustees.

Mayor Rothschild acknowledged that he has discussed the possibility with Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano. “The expectation from County Executive Mangano is that he’s going to try to do the best thing for the county, as well as Long Island and Garden City,” Mayor Rothschild said. “He has to figure out what to do with the family court, and whatever he decides we will have something to say about it. But we’ll listen to him, cooperate with him. We’ll do whatever we have to do.”

Resident Rochelle Dowling suggested the county move the Nassau County Board of Elections to the former social services building, which she claims is more attractive. Mayor Rothschild responded that the building where the Board of Elections is located is in allegedly good condition.The approximately 25-acre site where the old social services building sits on County Seat Drive was zoned for public use, but is now in a Residential-Townhouse zone. After many months of debate, on June 3, 2004, the Garden City Board of Trustees deleted the Public “P” District by unanimously passing controversial local law 2-2004. The R-T zone permits single family detached homes and single family attached homes (townhouses) with a three-story or 35 foot height limit.

Trustee Nicholas Episcopia asked if the county will have to come before the Board of Trustees to have the property rezoned if they decide to relocate the court. Mayor Rothschild said no.

Village Counsel Gerard Fishberg was more hesitant. “That’s a discussion,” he said.

Thomas Suozzi was the Nassau County executive at the time the Board deleted the Public “P” District. Suozzi was pleased with the zoning change since it meant he was a step closer to achieving his building consolidation plan, which would require the sale of several county properties. The sale of the former DSS site was expected to bring more than $50 million in revenue to the county.

The issue of a possible court move has arisen occasionally at Garden City Board of Trustees meeting over the years. Former mayors have said that Suozzi, although at one time pressing for the relocation of Family Court, acknowledged the Village’s opposition and said he would abandon his original plan.

In 2007, Suozzi presented a proposal to renovate the current Family Court building. Suozzi said he had about $75 million in his capital budget for the renovation and expansion of the Westbury site, including doubling its 385 parking spots. He said it would be considerably more expensive to put the court in Garden City, and acknowledged the legal opposition the County would face from the Village could amount to a delay of five to 10 years.

As of press time, Mangano’s office did not respond to a request for comment.