By Hector Flores
During a North Bellmore Civic Association monthly meeting at North Bellmore Public Library, more than 70 area homeowners and community activists voiced outrage over the plan. Some even threatened to boycott Western Beef.
Most residents said they feared: traffic and noise pollution; customers from other areas; Western Beef's reputation for opening stores in communities that have been abandoned by other supermarkets; poor sanitation and rodents around the facility; their children's safety; and lower property values.
"I have been living behind that store for 14 years, back when it was an A&P," said Rory Kaplan. "Our backyard borders the store. And when the A&P was opened, their garbage and dumpsters were not kept up to par. As a result, there were terrible smells coming into our backyards and into the street. Despite all the taxes we pay, we couldn't enjoy our own backyards then, and that is what is going to happen now."
Sab Caponi, 40, who lives a half-mile from the proposed Western Beef site, was concerned about how the store would be marketed to he public. "Western Beef attracts a certain clientele that are not from our area," said Caponi. "Those stores are normally seen in inner cities, and we are not an inner city; we are a town."
For the most part, residents voiced concern over the safety of children who attend Saw Mill Elementary, on Peapond Road and Saw Mill Road, around the corner of the proposed Western Beef store.
"This Western Beef supermarket will threaten the safety of our children," said Larry Rubinstein. "Ever since the Dunkin Donuts shop came to Jerusalem Avenue [across the street from the school], there have been many accidents. And this market will bring more traffic and danger."
Richard Fraschilla, Western Beef's operations director, tried to appease the crowd. He explained that the old Western Beef markets were mostly warehouse-style, with cement floors, offering meat and produce. The new prototype store -- only the second of its kind -- will resemble a regular supermarket with a bakery. At the same time, though, the prototype supermarket will retain Western Beef's warehouse-style meat department.
"We are here as a show of being a good neighbor and that we wanted to come here and hear your concerns and see what we can work out," he said. "We have studied North Bellmore and feel that we can cater to the neighborhood."
But residents like Nick Fucci were outraged that news of the store's opening was only made public a month ago and demanded to know why.
Frederick Amorini, of the Town of Hempstead Building Department, explained that this was a private deal with the previous operator, Rite Aid, which is leasing the property to Western Beef.
"Normally in cases like this, private buildings and homes don't need political approval or public forums," he said. "And being that the site is zoned for commercial use, there is no variance needed. The bottom line is that this was a grocery and it will be once again."
Western Beef isn't planning to alter the building's exterior. The town, which oversees all building alterations, has granted Western Beef permission to do interior work, and unless major changes are in store for the site, Western Beef does not need town permission to complete its interior alterations.
Nassau County Legislator David Denenberg (D-Merrick), however, said numerous other approvals are needed, which could stop work on the supermarket. "Variance is not the only way of halting this work," he said.
Residents, though, remain concerned. "My house was built three years ago," said Rubinstein. "We are building this area into a nice residential community, and it is obvious that no one wants Western Beef here, and we will never shop there."
