Opponents of Belmont Park flea market concerned about security, garbage, rodents
With nothing but a 12-foot-high chain link fence separating the Floral Park-Bellerose School from a lot called the Green Parking Field at Belmont, the site where 400-plus vendors would operate three days a week, parents and school administrators fear that the children's habits could easily be monitored by anyone on the other side. School PTA Co-president Jennell Horan said the area's population of registered sex offenders is reason enough to worry. According to the Parents for Megan's Law Web site, 12 registered sex offenders live in Elmont and Floral Park.
There is also fear that food vendors' trash and scraps would litter the lot and schoolyard and attract rodents. Flea market vendors would operate on Tuesdays, Saturdays and Sundays between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. from March through next December.
Dr. Lynn Pombonyo, superintendent of the Floral Park-Bellerose School District, said that as many as 2,000 people might crowd the flea market at any time. She added that even if the food vendors kept their stalls clean, trash could still wind up on the ground. The result could be a rodent infestation.
"It's a big problem," said Pombonyo, who testified on behalf of the school district at a Town of Hempstead Board of Zoning Appeals meeting last month. "There will be lots of people, and if it's windy, garbage can fly over or through the fence onto our side."
In addition to the garbage, Pombonyo said, she is worried about the possibility of a mishap with the propane tanks that food vendors would use. "That's a lot of people cooking with propane on top of each other," she said. "Anything can happen."
Plain N Fancy Shows of Westbury, which operates a larger flea market at Aqueduct Race Track in Queens, hopes to move its operation to the Belmont Park site. Plain N Fancy is under contract with the New York Racing Association, which owns Belmont and Aqueduct, and has applied for a special exception permit from the BZA.
PTA Co-President Kelly Pipa said that if the permit is approved, it would pose myriad problems for students. "God forbid someone misuses the propane," Pipa said. "And you have the smell of food, and it really infringes on [students'] atmosphere. It'll change the children's view and perspective of being at school."
Plain N Fancy's attorney, Brian Stolar, did not return calls for comment.
The school's playground is only 8 feet from the fence between school property and the Belmont Park lot, and athletic fields are 20 or so feet away. Pombonyo said that as many as 300 of the more than 900 students who attend the school can be on the field at any time. In addition, there are five or six games scheduled on weekends by the Floral Park Indians Soccer Club, the Floral Park Youth Council lacrosse league and the Floral Park Little League, among other organizations.
"There's no way to monitor who's back there," said Jennell Horan, another PTA co-president, of the fields' proximity to the race track's property. "It's not like it's a football field away."
Pombonyo said that when an adult loiters outside the school, school officials can easily chase him away. That wouldn't be the case if the application is approved, Pombonyo said.
"People can hear [students'] names, pick up conversations, take photos with a cell phone camera, learn their schedules," she said.
The school district will be notified of the BZA's decision.
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