68.0°,
Mostly Cloudy Court rules in favor of Posillico
State Supreme Court Justice Jeffrey S. Brown issued a summary judgment on Dec. 9, which invalidated a 2013 Town of Hempstead resolution that stopped the Posillico Development Company and Blue Island Development, LLC from building a 172 apartment-condo project on Harbor Island.
Town of Hempstead Supervisor Anthony Santino said “Hempstead Town will appeal the recent court decision, which would force the development of a rental housing project that would transform Harbor Isle in a profound and negative way. Harbor Isle is a lovely bedroom community with loads of hometown charm. Residents have been adamantly opposed to a large rental apartment complex proposed for their neighborhood, and Hempstead Town officials share their concerns. Homeowners have rightly pointed out that such a project would change the character of the area for the worse, adding traffic congestion and ushering forth a transient population.”
However some residents are calling on the Town to drop a planned appeal and allow the project to continue.
“The Harbor Island project will clean up and rehabilitate a historically blighted area and turn it into new residences that could potentially bring thousands in new revenue,” said local residents Ed and Diana Caracciolo. “Ideally, we want no further delay in moving forward with the Harbor Island project so that our Harbor Isle community can gain from the financial benefits and not worry about contamination and health issues, while at the same time enhancing the entire community of Island Park.”
After years of litigation before the Appellate Court’s the Town’s motion denying the developer’s application to build 140 luxury rental units, 32 condominium units, and 31 boat slips at Harbor Island was overturned.
“All the had to do was come up with a reason why they denied the project,” Posillico Development Company president Michael Posillico said, “The Appellate Court asked for a reason, but they never produced one, so we went to Supreme Court and asked for the summary judgment and got it.”
