By:Nick Buglione
Following a February meeting in Washington, D.C., with Sen. Hillary Clinton and Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, Secretary of the Navy Gordon England agreed to retain 250 of the 510 units between Mitchel Manor and Mitchel Field, while selling off the rest.
But just where those units were going to be located -- whether they would be split between the two properties or kept entirely within one -- remained unclear in the weeks after the meeting. The location of the remaining military houses was of great concern to the servicemen and women living there.
Residents of Mitchel Manor, within the East Meadow School District, had voiced concerns about moving to Mitchel Field, where children attend Uniondale schools. East Meadow civic leaders also voiced concerns about what would be built at Mitchel Manor if the military housing units there were sold. The possibility of consolidating all the units at Mitchel Manor, meanwhile, cast doubt over the future of the clinic, commissary and exchange at Mitchel Field.
Marvin Mullins, facilities director of the Mitchel Manor and Mitchel Field housing complexes, confirmed in an interview last Thursday that East Meadow is where the 250 units will remain. And those units will either be completely rebuilt or refurbished, he said.
In the section of Mitchel Manor north of Front Street, on the side of the small Nassau County Police Department post, about 100 units will be torn down and rebuilt, while an additional 150 south of Front Street will be extensively refurbished, Mullins said.
The remaining 150 units -- Mitchel Manor currently comprises about 400 -- will be torn down, Mullins said. Shrubbery, gazeboes and other landscaping will be put in to fill the empty space and give it more aesthetic appeal, he said. A new community center and swimming pool will also be constructed, according to Mullins.
In a story last September, the Herald first detailed the Navy's intention to sell the 49-acre Mitchel Manor in East Meadow and the 48-acre Mitchel Field in Garden City, after its study concluded that enough affordable housing existed on Long Island to sustain military families stationed locally. Although the Navy owned and operated the complexes, members of all military branches live there.
But residents, elected officials and civic leaders, claiming, among other things, that the average serviceman and woman couldn't afford to support a family on Long Island, persuaded the Navy to rethink its original plan and re-evaluate the results of its housing-market analysis.
The Navy will still turn over the housing complexes to a private company in October, which will be responsible for managing the remaining units in Mitchel Manor and selling off more than 100 units at Mitchel Field. The move is part of a nationwide Navy initiative to privatize its housing.
Work on Mitchel Manor will likely begin in the spring, Mullins said. Servicemen and women living at Mitchel Field will be allowed to stay until it is sold off in 2006. The future use of that land depends on the future owner's plans and zoning. The area is currently zoned as single-family residences, according to the Town of Hempstead.
The Navy has promised that the clinic, commissary and exchange in Mitchel Field will remain open after the sale. These are where local servicemen and women, as well as some 8,000 retired military personnel, receive health care and shop for food and clothes at bargain prices.
