By Angela Marshall
The tiny roadway starts at Sunrise Highway and is mistakenly thought by many to be part of the King Kullen parking lot. The Planning Board held a work session on Nov. 18 to discuss Banks Avenue.
The consultants said that other traffic concerns can easily be addressed, but the use of Banks Avenue, which they called chaotic and messy already, will be a problem unless changes are made to the street. It is expected that roughly 25 percent of the future tenants of the proposed Signature Place apartment complex, to be built just north of the shopping center, would use Banks Avenue to enter or exit.
The two-building complex would house 349 one- and two-bedroom units.
King Kullen, however, said the roadway can handle the traffic increase as it is, and the company does not want to see any changes made. The grocery store had its own traffic consultant, PSC Engineering, study the road and two proposals submitted by the apartment developer, Chase Partners. In a letter to the village Building Department, Edward J. Glackin, a King Kullen vice president, wrote, In the opinion of PSC Engineering, the existing roads, including Banks Avenue, are adequate to accommodate the traffic generated by the apartments, and the existing access to and from the King Kullen premises operates safely and efficiently. King Kullen's store management and risk management personnel agree that the shopping center operates safely.
Glackin went on to say that the store's records indicate that there have been no reports of accidents since the store opened. But Planning Board member Ed Oppenheimer, a member of the Rockville Centre Fire Department, recalled a recent accident involving a pedestrian.
King Kullen has a 49-year license agreement with the village to use Banks Avenue, which doesn't expire until 2044. The grocery store pays the village $20,000 annually, with a 10 percent increase every 10 years of the agreement.
Because of the agreement, Planning Board members were unsure whether King Kullen could be forced to allow Signature Place to make safely changes to the roadway, like adding stop signs and raised speed tables to slow traffic. However, a look at the current configuration of the grocery store parking lot revealed that it might not be in compliance with plans approved by the village, including the requirement that Banks Avenue must be at least 50 feet wide. There also seem to be more parking spaces than originally planned.
Glackin says King Kullen is in compliance. Any plans or other documents that are not consistent with the shopping center as constructed are simply not accurate, he said in a statement. The shopping center has operated safely and conveniently since 1996. King Kullen is proud of that record and to be a part of the Rockville Centre community.
