By Dana Williams
, as the town reaches out to developers who are expected to attract national retail chains and rejuvenate the struggling commercial area.
Along with Charles Theofan, the town's commissioner of planning and economic development, Santino told residents at a community meeting at the Baldwin Library on March 6 that the project will be radically different than what the community has seen before.
Santino said the new landscape would not be in the form of a strip mall with nail salons and fast food joints, but rather a modern design with quality shops and a bustling retail mix that would attract shoppers from surrounding communities and be amenable to pedestrian traffic.
The town is currently looking for a developer who can construct the best design that can accommodate the residents of Baldwin, Santino said. Last week's meeting comes on the heels of a larger community forum in February. At that meeting, Santino unveiled seven proposals from major real estate developers. There, he said that the town would soon begin the process of issuing requests for proposals in order to choose the best developer and move the project along. One of the next steps in the project is to narrow the proposals down to three finalists, Theofan said.
The town is acquiring the properties on Grand Avenue to build new stores that are expected to rejuvenate an area that many residents say has seen better days. Theofan began the meeting - which was hosted by the Baldwin Auxiliary of South Nassau Communities Hospital - by explaining how the process of eminent domain could work residents' favor.
"The government uses its eminent domain powers not to build a school, a road or park but to use for another private property to benefit residents," he said to more than 25 people in the library's community room. "Many people think that this is a new concept but it has been used in America for many years now."
By using eminent domain, the town will offer property owners the highest amount of money that their property is worth, Theofan said.
"We will even negotiate and offer the owners more than what their property's appraisal is," he said. Theofan also explained to residents that the project is complicated because the town has to relocate tenants and business owners.
"We take the relocation of tenants very seriously because after all, this is people's lives we are dealing with," he said, adding that he wants residents to know that town officials work very hard to make sure no one is mistreated by the eminent
domain process.
"The town is offering to relocate residential tenants to wherever they want go," Theofan added. "If they want to stay in Baldwin, we will find them a place in Baldwin, if they want to move to a place in Suffolk County, we will accommodate them."
The town has also been successful in getting those property owners on Gale Avenue - whose backyards abut the town's municipal parking lot on Merrick Road - to share a portion of their backyards to accommodate projects, Theofan and Santino said.
"I spoke to all five homeowners themselves and four out of five said they would be anxious to sell a portion of their backyard," Theofan said.
Theofan also presented visuals of what the prospective developers are proposing to construct on that corner, and urged residents to make comments on the ones they liked best while expressing concerns with less appealing ones, such as a proposal by AvalonBay Communities that would include residential apartments.
Besides questions about how the renewal project will affect traffic in the area, residents appeared to be excited about the rebuilding of what is considered to be a rundown area.
"We are looking to take this problematic area, where people are congregating and making people feel unsafe and turn it into a better place," Santino said. "We are trying to create an economic engine to benefit the entire Baldwin community mainly by bringing in viable national stores."
Comments about this story? Dwilliams@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 282.
