By JOSEPH KELLARD
The Town of Hempstead zoning board granted variances for the site, indicating that it plans to approve a proposal to build a new pharmacy adjacent to the already approved Wild By Nature supermarket on the North Long Beach Road property. A notice of the board's decision was made public on Dec. 27.
The variances pertain to construction of a drive-through at the proposed pharmacy, the conversion of a driveway on Castleton Court to a one-way entrance and the installation of fencing and a dumpster near neighboring homes.
"We still need to get site-plan approval from the town zoning board, but in our view this was the most important hurdle," said Ed Glackin, vice president of real estate for King Kullen, the parent company of Wild By Nature.
During the board hearing on Oct. 25, Nancy Hammer, whose home abuts the Castleton Court driveway, voiced concerns that customers would use that outlet to avoid exiting at the other proposed driveway on Long Beach Road. So the board adopted the condition that the Castleton Court driveway must be used as an entrance only for motorists and delivery trucks for both stores.
"We think the board decision was good, both for us and the neighboring property owners," Glackin said.
To the dismay of Hammer and other neighbors, however, the board also granted a drive-through for the proposed pharmacy that will replace the existing brick building that once housed the movie theater at the southwest corner of the site. Cars entering the drive-through will point directly at Hammer's home 41 feet away, but a high fence will be installed to block the sight of motorists, a recommendation the developers requested.
While Hammer didn't return a phone call seeking comment, her next-door neighbor, Nicholas Comisa, called it senseless to have a drive-through in which car headlights will beam directly into neighboring homes.
"It's good they will install a fence, but they should have reversed the buildings or the driveway so that this kind of thing doesn't have to happen," he said.
Comisa said he and other residents remain skeptical about whether the pharmacy or supermarket will follow through on these and other conditions proposed for the site. "We'll have to see what happens once they start operating," he added. "But they don't really care about the people who'll be living behind their stores because they don't live here Š When they demolished the burned-down supermarket, they piled tons of dirt right behind our backyards."
In particular, Comisa questions whether a dumpster on the site will really be used strictly for cardboard and paper materials ‹ not food and other potentially odor-producing garbage ‹ as the developers proposed at the hearing.
While the zoning board's decision on the pharmacy is pending, a CVS or Walgreens is expected to move into the new building. "I'm told that at this point they are getting very close to signing with Walgreens," Glackin said.
Walgreens did not return a call to comment. But Al Rosenberg, president of Alrose Group, a Manhattan-based developer of commercial retail sites and owner of the Foodtown-theater property, said that it has been a lengthy, drawn-out negotiation process with Walgreens. ³But with this decision, we could have work permits within four months or so, and if that is the case, were breaking ground with Walgreens in mind or without ... I¹ll just take that site and fill it up with other retailers or another national chain.²
Glackin said the 19,000-square-foot Wild By Nature, a subsidiary of King Kullen that specializes in organic foods, and the 13,000-square-foot pharmacy will probably be built and opened simultaneously, although the supermarket will likely break ground first and take longer to build since its refrigeration-plumbing system makes it a more complex development.
"I expect that they will open almost simultaneous, and we hope that construction will start by early summer, if not sooner," Glackin said. "But first we still need to go through a process with the town."
Comments about this story? JKellard@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 287.
