Letters to the Rockville Centre Herald Editor (March 17-23)

Hypocrisy abounds over accessory dwelling units

To the Editor:

Kudos to Brian Kelly for his letter last week, “Let’s listen to other ‘suburban voices,’” calling out Mayor Francis Murray for his guest editorial two weeks ago, “Suburban voices were heard in Albany.” However, Mr. Kelly did not go far enough.

Murray was opposed to Gov. Kathy Hochul’s accessory dwelling units proposal because, he wrote, “parking would become a major issue in neighborhoods and residents would lose a great deal of their privacy.” The mayor continued that ADUs would have “put an enormous financial burden on the residents in these suburban communities, like Rockville Centre.”

What Mr. Kelly failed to point out is that while the mayor purports to care about these issues, he was also the mayor when the subdivision of 220 Hempstead Ave. occurred, dividing one building lot into five. His appointed zoning board gives out variances like Halloween candy (add the lot on the corner of North Village Avenue and Banbury Road to the list), and he was also mayor when Avalon increased the size of its footprint in the village.

Clearly the current administration has no plan for the future of our village. It’s time for the mayor to develop a new plan, or seek other employment.

Marc Wieman, Rockville Centre

. . . 

Three cheers for Village Attorney Tom Levin

To the Editor:

Re last week’s article “Diocese project facing PILOT problems”: Unlike Fred Parola, the executive director of the Town of Hempstead Industrial Development Agency, Village Attorney Tom Levin did not just blindly accept information provided by some unidentified party about the status of the payment in lieu of taxes, or PILOT, for the proposed project at the former Rockville Centre Diocese headquarters building.

The developer of the proposed new office building, Philips International, offered no information, and Mr. Parola offered no useful information about the next steps, but we can hope Mr. Levin’s concerns are rapidly addressed.

This misstep also provides an opportunity for the village to seek other proposals, and time for Mr. Parola to gather accurate information.

Brian Kelly, Rockville Centre