Town of Hempstead to unveil plan for Nassau Coliseum property

While the possibility of a casino at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum property has become a hot topic, the Lighthouse project has not officially gone dark yet — at least not in the offices of the Town of Hempstead.
   
Within the next two weeks, the town plans to unveil a special zoning blueprint that could make way for a “scaled-down” version of the Lighthouse. “We have been working really diligently since we made our announcement in January that we would be coming up with a smaller-scale version of the developers’ plans,” said Town Supervisor Kate Murray.
   
Lighthouse developers Charles Wang, who owns the New York Islanders, and Scott Rechler, a real estate executive, have not spoken publicly about the project in months. The group even shut down the project’s website, www.lighthouseli.com, which now displays nothing more than a statement thanking supporters, mildly criticizing the town and saying that the developers await a decision from Murray.
   
For her part, Murray confirmed that the Lighthouse group has not seen plans for the new zoning. County Executive Edward Mangano, however, revealed in April that he is in talks with the Shinnecock Indian Nation about building a resort casino at the Coliseum. The county owns the property, but the town has authority over developers’ environmental and zoning applications. County sources said that Mangano is continuing his discussions with the Shinnecock Nation.