By Angela Marshall
Time for tiered parking?
Perhaps the greatest challenge is the one Rockville Centre has faced the longest parking. Year after year, pleas for more or better parking are made to the village government. Now, at least two members of Rockville Centre-s Board of Trustees are beginning to think there is no option but to consider tiered parking. Both are painfully aware that the idea has been shot down before and is considered not in keeping with the quaint small-town feel most villagers moved here for.
We-ve tried hard, said Trustee Greg Rinn, but no matter what other options the village has employed, the problem, at least in perception, remains. Last year the village restarted a Transportation and Parking Committee, studied lot capacity and created parking maps to show shoppers the options available.
Now that Bally Total Fitness is slated to move from its home at 60 Merrick Road to the former Rite Aid pharmacy at 309 Merrick Road in the heart of the village, Rinn worries that parking will only become worse. The health club has a membership of more than 16,000 and handles up to 1,000 workouts per day.
Deputy Mayor Wayne Lipton also believes long-term parking decisions will have to be made. One option he mentioned was looking into building a large tiered parking lot like the one in Long Beach. Both Lipton and Rinn stressed that no decisions would be made without careful study.
Updating village code
Nothing has been given more study by the board over the past five years than updating the village code, and many of the changes proposed during those long years of debates were enacted last year. Board members are waiting to see how changes like lowering building heights to 48 feet in all commercial zones and allowing apartments in the downtown area will play out. With two apartment complexes working their way through the village-s approval systems, they may not have to wait much longer.
Both developers are currently presenting their cases before the village-s Planning Board. Former villager F. J. McCarthy is proposing a 32 unit complex on Clinton Avenue, which will be limited to residents 55 and older, across from the St. Agnes Cathedral School. Chase Partners, a New Jersey development company, is proposing a 349-unit complex on Banks Avenue north of the King Kullen shopping center.
Opponents, including many members of the Residents Voice Party, have come out against the developments, saying they will put unnecessary strain on village services.
The board continues to work on updating the code, and is being pressured by residents of the Maple Avenue area to complete a zoning change that would reduce allowed building heights in their neighborhood. The creation of a Little Town zone has long been discussed, and board members feel they are almost ready to begin hearings on the zone change. Trustee Mary Bossart has led the charge to reduce building heights in this area, which consists of a mixture of commercial and residential uses. I want to see it finished, she said.
Whether restaurants should continue to be allowed in the Little Town area has been a big sticking point, but last month a proposal by Trustee James Sutton seemed to bring the board closer together. Sutton suggested that there be two Little Town designations, one where restaurants are not allowed and one allowing them in areas where it makes sense.
Do we have the power?
Board members are also concerned about the village-s ability to meet future electricity demands. Although the concerns are nothing new, they were elevated during last August-s blackout. Although the village-s power was quickly restored, rolling blackouts had to be instituted over the following few days because the demand for electricity was higher than Rockville Centre-s eight engines could provide.
Board members say they will have to make some tough decisions about how to best meet electric needs in the future. For now, the village is requesting its first electric rate increase since 1991 from New York-s Public Service Commission. The proposed 14.6 percent increase was necessitated by inflation, increasing state retirement costs, health insurance increases and the development of a new substation, according to village officials.
Unbearable pension costs
Rising pension costs are not just affecting the cost of power in the village. The skyrocketing costs have sent Mayor Eugene Murray on a lobbying campaign around the state. He left for another trip to Albany on Tuesday to once again appeal to Gov. George Pataki.
In his December column in the Herald, the mayor said, In 2002, Rockville Centre contributed about $114,000 to the state pension plan for our municipal employees and police. In 2003 the state Legislature rewrote the law, and our contribution increased by more than six times to $720,000. Next year we are expecting that number to triple to more than $2.1 million!
In just two years- time, our pension costs will have risen 1,700 percent.
With all these issues looming on the horizon, it-s likely to be a very busy year for the Rockville Centre Board of Trustees. The first board meeting of the year will be held at Village Hall, 1 College Place, on Monday, Dec. 12, at 8:15 p.m.
