Plans for W.H. apartment complex need revision: Hempstead Town Council

Barry Leon has to do some more homework before the Hempstead Town Council will consider approving his proposal to rezone a West Hempstead site from light manufacturing to multifamily urban renewal development.

Supervisor Kate Murray and council members grilled Leon and his partners at a hearing on Nov. 15 on the details of the plan to build a 60-unit garden apartment complex to replace the AVF Carting property at 40 Hempstead Garden Drive. They asked about everything from potential tenants to placement of garbage dumpsters, and heard from two residents and a West Hempstead business owner who opposed the plan in its current state.

“All I can say is that it resembles an old-fashioned motel,” Rosalie Norton, president of the West Hempstead Community Support Association, told council members. “You have concrete … there’s a sea of parking fields. … If I were to grade this for design, detail and density, I’d have to give it a failing F grade, if not an F-minus.”

Resident Walter Ejnes, who is also the president of the West Hempstead Board of Education, told council members that Leon’s plan falls short of the shared vision West Hempstead residents have for the hamlet. And Town Councilwoman Dorothy Goosby, who represents that part of West Hempstead, expressed concerns about noise from the Long Island Rail Road station adjacent to the property and suggested eliminating six units to create a community room in the complex. She also asked Leon to consider including affordable units; as it stands, the plan includes monthly rents between $1,600 and $1,900. Leon said his rental fees would be comparable to those of the Alexan, a 150-unit rental complex going up on the other side of the tracks.

At the conclusion of the 90-minute hearing, the council voted to reserve a decision until after Leon meets with community members and amends the rezoning petition.

It was an expected — even welcomed — decision, according to Leon, a 28-year resident of West Hempstead, who lives about seven blocks from the site. “The community, of course, wants aesthetically the thing to be as nice for the neighborhood as it can be,” he told the Herald. “We ended up agreeing with them … that we want the frontage to be much, much more interesting and varied … so that it doesn’t look like barracks.”

In addition to working with Norton and others to improve the complex’s façade (he is considering Tudor style), Leon said he plans to include more greenery and landscaping around the property “so that all along the street line, everything that shows through the fence will be a nice green oasis barrier.”

Leon has also agreed to include a community room in the complex, which aims to accommodate those “at the beginning of life and at the end of life.” The ground-floor units would be most suitable for people who want to leave their houses, and the other units, which would be duplexes, would likely attract people who are not ready for houses, Leon said. He intends to limit the number of college students living in the complex to prevent overuse and excessive noise.

“Generally … people prefer the idea of middle-class, free-market housing, which will bring nice people to the neighborhood,” Leon said, “and then the area between us and [the Alexan] will be much, much more vibrant, much more alive.” He added that his development, like the Alexan, would liven up the “dead” area — rendered as such by the former crime-ridden Courtesy Hotel, which was demolished in May.

Leon said he is happy to work with the community and turn the complex into something that fits in with its vision. “It is my sense that when we resolve all that stuff, they will probably recommend the project nicely,” he added.

Norton, who supported the council’s vote to reserve a decision on the application, said the Community Support Association welcomes the opportunity to work with Leon. “Only [after] of the concerns … are addressed by the developer and resolved can the application for a zoning change move forward to be approved,” she said. “I do hope that he took note of all of the questions and concerns the board expressed, and [that] Mr. Leon submits plans for a greatly improved apartment complex.”