By Matt Hampton
“We’re arguing, for a variety of reasons, that the town’s blight studies are illegal,” said the attorney, A. Thomas Levin, on behalf of several property owners at the corner of Elmont Road and Hempstead Turnpike. “We want to keep our property. We think this is an entirely inappropriate use of eminent domain.”
In a study adopted by the town last November, a development planning firm categorized the area — a busy intersection dotted with bodegas, convenience stores, short-order restaurants and a Salvation Army — as blighted. Since then, the location has been scrutinized by town officials and local civic leaders who are hoping to redevelop the entire Hempstead Turnpike corridor.
“We believe the location is clearly blighted,” Town Supervisor Kate Murray said, “and we’re going to fight to put the community’s interests first.”
The town is also worried that the lawsuit could prevent $2.5 million in state grant funds from being used at the site. The funds, which were earmarked for the area by state legislators, must be used for a community revitalization project.
Assemblyman Tom Alfano (R-Franklin Square) was not pleased about the lawsuit. “Shame on them,” Alfano said. “This suit says it all. These landlords are saying, ‘To hell with Elmont, and we don’t care about revitalization on Hempstead Turnpike.’ They can go to court all they want. At the end of the day, revitalization of Elmont is too important to allow these landlords to hold the people hostage for their own greed. The grant funding Senator [Dean] Skelos and I obtained for the site will move forward.”
In the lawsuit, Tess Mittman and NT&U Technologies are listed as the owners of two different buildings at the site, at 475 and 481 Hempstead Turnpike. One is the former site of the Argo Theatre, now a convenience market.
Levin and his clients are arguing that because the town did not perform an environmental review of the area, in accordance with the State Environmental Quality Review Act, a blight study can not be considered fully accurate, or even complete. Furthermore, they argue that the use of eminent domain to replace existing businesses with a new supermarket is a violation of the rights of the property owners.
Town officials and local leaders have characterized the lawsuit as a “nuisance,” saying that business owners in the area are simply trying to hang on to convenience stores and bodegas that take advantage of Elmont residents’ inability to shop elsewhere. They have said that the area badly needs a supermarket, and they intend to build one on the site once the current property owners are gone.
But Levin said that the town has had its shot with supermarkets before, with dismal results. “Every supermarket that’s been in that area before has failed,” he said. Residents who attended a recent Town of Hempstead press conference said that a Waldbaum’s was the last supermarket in the area to fail.
Levin said that the town is being disingenuous in court papers, and that revitalization at the site could mean any number of things, despite the public promise of a “full-service supermarket.”
The town has pledged to move forward with a request for proposals at the site, even though the court proceedings are still in progress, with the next scheduled appearance for both groups set for the end of the month. A representative of the town’s press office said she did not think the RFP had been released yet.
At a recent press conference, Murray said she believed that Elmont needs a supermarket and a revitalized downtown shopping area. “Putting residents first and revitalizing the corner of Elmont Road and Hempstead Turnpike are priorities worth fighting for,” she said. “That is why the town will vigorously defend against this action, which threatens to stall local community revitalization efforts.”
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