By Nick Buglione
Located at 2000 Hempstead Turnpike, the Home Depot's back parking lot is situated directly across from Front Street homes.
Since the store moved in 13 years ago, homeowners there have lodged a myriad of complaints both with the store and the Town of Hempstead, saying that delivery trucks are unloading as early as 5:30 a.m. when they should be unloading no earlier than 7 a.m. They also have charged the trucks, which block parking spaces and free access to the lot, idle for extended periods of time, giving off fumes and excessive engine noise.
"We have pretty strict rules that were laid out about five years ago that deal with receiving and issues related with the operation of the lot," said John Simley, spokesman for Home Depot. "Up until four weeks ago, due to a rotation in management, some of those things fell through the cracks."
Simley also noted, though, that in the last three weeks the store has complied with the rules, and trucks are not unloading before 7 a.m.
"We have an awful lot of people who service the store, so we have to make it clear to them that we have these operating restrictions," he said. "I don't think this is an issue anymore."
Local residents disagree.
"My problem really is with the town," said Ron Lupski, who lives in a house on Front Street with his elderly parents. "I realize the Home Depot is acting like any major corporation."
Stuart Milgrim, president of Birchwood on the Green of East Meadow Civic Association, said he too believed the town should be more active in helping residents with their complaints against the Home Depot.
"You're fighting a big corporation, and they [won't] do much if the town doesn't want to do anything," he said. "There's a point that's reached when you can't fight big business. How far can you go with it?"
According to Lupski, who was present at the three community presentations Home Depot made to the residents before opening in 1990, store officials initially promised they would construct a bay that would allow all deliveries to take place inside the store.
"We were given assurances by Home Depot that they would be unloading trucks in the store," Lupski said.
After obtaining a permit from the town, however, Home Depot officials said the enclosure they built was too small for trucks to fit in.
"You just don't go altering plans after obtaining a permit," Lupski said. "They definitely reneged on what they said."
The ensuing years for many of the residents on Front Street have been fraught with rude awakenings in the morning. In just this year alone, Lupski said he has made 14 complaints, six with the police and eight with the store, for excessive noise.
Occupying 117,000 square feet and putting through an average of 30,000 sales per week, this Home Depot is one of the chain's more productive stores.
"Home Depot is very hard to live with," said Jeannine Rivera, a resident on Front Street for the past 15 years. "It's not only the unloading and loading of trucks, but also the idling of trucks. When I walk outside, there is always the smell of fumes."
Rivera added that Home Depot, in her opinion, has done a sub-par job keeping the parking lot tidy, as papers and garbage accumulate and are not picked up often enough.
"I know that the garbage isn't all the Home Depot's fault, but it's still their responsibility to clean up," she said.
Town of Hempstead Councilman Gary Hudes (R-Levittown) agreed with local residents and said he and town officials held a meeting about two weeks ago with Home Depot warning them to get their act together.
"About two weeks ago, I was driving through the rear parking area, and I noted that it was a mess," Hudes said. Complaints from the community prompted him to call the meeting.
Two of the issues they touched upon, Hudes said, had to do with keeping the lot clean and stopping early-morning deliveries.
"If they are supposed to be delivering no earlier than 7 a.m., then it means 7 a.m.," Hudes said, adding that he also implored store officials to have the trucks unload as close to the store as possible and away from the residences. "I explained to them that instead of worrying about tomorrow how about worrying about today."
Sometime after the meeting, Hudes said he traveled back to the parking lot to see if it was in better shape. Though Home Depot officials assured Hudes they clean the lot six times a week, he said it did not appear that way.
"They did some of it. I'm still not impressed with the parking lot," Hudes said. "They've had ample time to clean it up."
Hudes said he and the town plan to keep a watchful eye on the Home Depot and that the town will issue notices of violations and summonses if the problems persist.
He also asked that local residents call his office at (516) 489-5000, extension 3279 to file complaints.
Residents, on the other hand, are not so confident that after 13 years, the problems will go away.
"What's happened is we've complained about the trucks, and it stops for a while. Then the store will change managers, and the new manager won't be aware of the previous complaints, and the early deliveries will start again," said Robert Zafonte, president of the East Meadow Civic and Community Service Association.
Several of Zafonte's civic group members live on Front Street, he said.
Lupski said believes living across from Home Depot has lowered the property value of his house and that the town should have more actively enforced its rules years ago. "I would like to see the town enforce their own rules and regulations."
Rivera, meanwhile, has all but given up the fight. "I've given in," she said. "You try to do whatever you can, but the big guys usually win. I don't have the time to keep writing letters."
