By Doug Miller
Library officials have long said they want to buy the lot and either turn it into a garden or save it for a future library expansion, but claim they were stonewalled by the previous owner, the Long Beach Exempt Firefighters Benevolent Association, which refused to sell it to them. The lot has since been sold to Shokrian.
The property is far too small to include both the commercial building and the three parking spaces required by the building code, so he needs a variance from the city's Zoning Board of Appeals. His application is on the calendar for the June 22 meeting.
This is the second go round for Shokrian and this parcel of land; his previous application, which called for a larger structure that would have included space for a tenant, was rejected by the zoning board, but only after becoming a source of both embarrassment and resentment for library officials.
In variance cases such as this, the city requires applicants to notify via register mail all the affected neighbors so they may appear at the public hearing. Unfortunately, the library's notice went to the board of education headquarters, which is technically the library's landlord, and the notice was was signed for and opened by a student intern who apparantly did not properly log it in, and it went unnoticed.
Meanwhile, the then-president of the Long Beach Library Board of Trustess, Warren Vegh, was seeking the Democratic nomination for a seat on the Nassau County Legislature and spoke at the public hearing in favor of the project, claiming it would have provided a windfall of cash for the firefighters (the property sale actually went through even with the board's refusal to provide the variances.)
But Vegh never told his fellow board members or school officials about the proposal - which he apparently learned about through political channels - so his statement of support was the only public position taken by library officials.
Shortly after, when word of the meeting and Vegh's testimony appeared in the Herald, the Library board and its attorney issued a statement denouncing Shokrian's proposal and distancing itself from its president's statements, claiming the library should be given an opportunity to bid on the land, since it considers it vital to any future expansion.
Ultimately, the rift became moot when the zoning board rejected the variance application, but now Shokrian is back.
"My client has been doing business in Long Beach for a number of years," said Walter Belling, an attorney for Shokrian in a prepared statement. "He merely wishes to centralize his operations and make Long Beach his home base."
The Shokrian needs a variance because the size of the lot makes it impossible to build both a building and the off-street parking required by code, in this case three spaces. His proposal offers zero. Last year's application, which was somewhat larger, was denied because it required six off-street parking spaces.
George Trepp, the Long Beach Library's director, said the Library Board of Trustees would be meeting in executive session Wednesday evening - after the Herald's deadline - and could not comment until after that meeting.
Comments about this story? DMiller@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 213.
