By Matt Hampton
The area, which was declared blighted in a study last year, is slated to be redeveloped with the help of a $2.5 million grant from the town and New York state. Now, however, in the face of a lawsuit from local business owners, the grant, and the revitalization of Elmont’s downtown, are in jeopardy.
“With so many good things happening in Elmont, we need to reinvigorate the heart of this business downtown,” Town Supervisor Kate Murray said. “We think it is absolutely key to making downtown Elmont realize its fullest potential.”
What was once a movie theater and a handful of small shops is now a stretch of bodegas, short-order restaurants and 99-cent convenience markets. As long as the results of the study stand, the location can be reclaimed by town officials and be the focus of a request for proposals.
Thomas Levin, a Garden City attorney who is representing Tess Mittman, owner of the former Argo Theater, filed papers in state Supreme Court last week to prevent the redevelopment of the area from going forward, claiming that the blight study was too flawed to be taken into consideration by the town. The study was conducted by a development planning firm and adopted by the town in November 2008.
Vision meetings for the community were held as far back as 2005, when residents expressed concerns that the street corners closest to Belmont Park had turned from a vibrant shopping district into an undesirable, and in some cases downright dangerous, place to shop. In the case of the Argo Theater site, a poll of residents conducted by town civic groups indicated that they wanted a full-service supermarket in the area — an amenity that Elmont currently lacks.
“We spent years working on this process, and we are determined to move forward so that the residents of Elmont can get what they rightfully deserve,” said Sandra Smith, co-chair of the Elmont Coalition for Sustainable Development. “It’s kind of sad to realize that it took the efforts of the community coming together to talk about how bad it is, for the landlords to decide that they might want to prop things up a little bit better.”
Mittman lives in Queens, according to the town.
Neither the manager of the convenience store at the site nor Mittman’s lawyer responded to requests for comment.
Regardless of who owns the site and what they think should be there, the heads of many local civic organizations are vocal in their support of government intervention to make sure that the community gets what residents believe they need. “We need a full-size supermarket, a supermarket that can deliver to the needs of the people,” said Elmont East End Civic Association President Patrick Nicolosi. “People have to travel outside the Elmont community to go shopping, and that’s not good for the community.”
If the court finds that the study was flawed, the town could lose the grant.
In spite of the legal battles, Murray said the town would be moving forward with the request-for-proposals process shortly. “We will continue to revitalize here while we fight on the legal front,” she said. “Our request for proposals for this very site will be issued in the next several days.”
Comments about this story? MHampton@
liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 214.
