Chairman Dennis Grossman, Village of Great Neck Zoning Board, solemnly stated that the outcome of the Oct. 1 public hearing would determine the village’s future. By evening’s end, a decision would be made in favor of saving a Long Island suburb for future generations – or not.
Ultimately, Chairman Grossman’s green-light stomped on suburban life, opting for urbanization of the Village of Great Neck. (Transcripts are available at Village Hall). It is anticipated that this approval will trigger an adverse cumulative effect, as Great Neck mayors have approved multi-story apartment complexes for Middle Neck Road without coordination or consideration for each other. Local law does not require it.
Bottom Line: There seems little attempt at striking a balance between time spent protecting taxpayers’ quality-of-life issues vs. the intense hourly demand of reviewing simultaneous and complex new construction blueprints. Who will protect residents from the devaluation of their critical investment – their single-family homes?
History: Weeks earlier, Ron Poons (member of VGN Zoning Board) publicly condemned the construction of 733-741 MNR for its potential “coffin-like” sub-cellar, raising issues of public safety and accessibility in the event of fire. This will be the only apartment complex in Great Neck built with a basement and sub-basement. What about water table issues?
Public Hearing Highlights (733-741 MNR): Noteworthy objections included “too large for the location” (Charles Siegel, board member) and fire-safety access concerns (Ron Poons, former firefighter and board member). This four-story, 60-unit, luxury rental behemoth was approved despite 12 rental buildings (past two years) already approved throughout various Great Neck villages.
Seemingly on steroids, 733-741 MNR loomed larger with every revised blueprint. The developer was quietly amassing additional property in Residential Zones of North Road and Hicks Lane. Should a commercial developer be allowed to extend his reach into clearly designated Residential Zones to advance his project? Chairman Grossman’s approval will surely set precedent for future too large for location, aggressive development.
How can this village go forth and multiply when standards for village life have been slipping for four years? Village insiders and outsiders have long recognized this is a village where “anything goes” and village codes are routinely broken.
The severely under-staffed Building Department is visibly straining under demands to uphold existing village code as well as New York State law (serious suburban quality-of-life issues). What about Building Department personnel who lack sufficient knowledge of village code? How can they protect law-abiding, taxpaying residents if they aren’t up to speed on their job description? Building Department turnover remains a thorny issue.
We already have newcomers in our village who cut their gas lines because they “don’t feel like paying National Grid” and they “don’t feel like telling the village they are taking construction matters into their own hands.” What about threats of physical violence against neighbors? These ugly tell-tale symptoms of urbanization and overcrowding exist in our village today — even before any new construction commences. Don’t forget the summer of 2019 (BOT meeting) and the revelation that physical threats of violence were made against a resident who prioritized public safety at the expense of new construction. What kind of circus is the village running behind closed doors?
In a related matter, isn’t it a rite of passage for young people to grow up and grow out of their parents’ homes and childhood neighborhoods? Traditionally, young married couples relocating from Long Island to Midwood or Kew Gardens are applauded for their independence.
Welcome to the wacky, new world of arrogance and entitlement in the Village of Great Neck. People of privilege, the new millennials, are voicing unreasonable demands on local government (for their personal benefit) to the overall community’s detriment. When these young people grow up, they don’t wish to move away. They don’t wish to live more than a few blocks from their parents, their childhood friends and their temples. Millennials are demanding more and more multi-story housing to accommodate their wish list. Sadly, Great Neck leaders are tossing out their integrity, voting against their better judgment and selling us out — by giving into “it’s all about Me Generation.”
Let’s agree that stagnating vacant storefronts on Middle Neck Road are an eyesore, but there are endless possibilities that would ensure the future of suburban life rather than favoring a mini metroplex.
Suggested Action: If you are dissatisfied with the direction Great Neck is taking, voice your opinion immediately before Long Island suburban life is a distant memory. Email: bosworthj@northhempsteadny.gov, samet@nysenate.gov, lurvey@northhempsteadny.gov. and ebirnbaum@nassaucountyny.gov
Judy Shore Rosenthal
Great Neck
“People of privilege, the new millennials, are voicing unreasonable demands on local government (for their personal benefit) to the overall community’s detriment. When these young people grow up, they don’t wish to move away. They don’t wish to live more than a few blocks from their parents, their childhood friends and their temples. Millennials are demanding more and more multi-story housing to accommodate their wish list.”
You’re damn right they are. This is their community too, not your personal theme park, or a piece of land frozen in amber.
Unfortunately, the only other policy option to building more dwellings is to stop procreating. I don’t think that’s plausible.
“Welcome to the wacky, new world of arrogance and entitlement in the Village of Great Neck. ”
Yes, let’s. You want to talk about “privilege?” One of the commenters in a previous article on this subject hadn’t even lived here for a year, and decided for herself that now that SHE owns a property, no changes will be permitted for anyone else’s benefit, and the Village has to stay the way it is.
People who have lived here for decades, and probably paid over seven figures in property taxes over that time, wrote in to express their dismay at the withering condition of the Village. Guess who thought they had veto power?
She didn’t come here just to let OTHERS come here, by God, and she’s attended every meeting telling everyone so, without any sense of self awareness. THAT, is “entitlement.”
As I have pointed out before: this is a NATIONAL ISSUE. We are screwing our young people blind, and cheating them out of the things that were handed to the older generation practically on a silver platter. People who obstruct new construction of smaller housing units are inflicting a considerable amount of pain, economic and otherwise, on people who to them, merely exist in the abstract. They don’t. They have had an economic dystopia rammed down their throats, and they’re supposed to lie down and accept it. It’s their future, Let them have it.
And let’s drop the farce about this being about “quality of life.” If you can lose your mind over another 60 (sixty) dwellings added to the peninsula, you have another agenda or a truly vivid imagination.
The incorporated village has a population of 10,000. Even adding another 500 units isn’t going to change the “character” of the area, and if I’m in government, it’s time to get real creative about putting vacant properties back on the tax roll. Because if revenue drops even more, you’ll see a change in the “quality of life” around here REAL fast.
All across the country, the people who have nested in their homes for decades deny others the same right they’ve enjoyed, and taken for granted. THAT, is “privilege.”
This is not about one group not wanting “others” to come here. This is about a local government that is not transparent, a mayor who green-lights overdevelopment without listening to the concerns of his constituents, and greedy developers.
Do you really believe the apartments being constructed are going to be affordable to young millenials who want to stay in the town they grew up in? Guess what… even in 1981, when I got married, I couldn’t afford to stay in Great Neck. This is not a new phenomenon, and I agree with the comment that in some ways, it’s a national phenomenon… but building more apartments is not the answer.
It’s no farce that this is a quality of life issue. It will affect the quality of life for ALL residents when Middle Neck Road, East Shore Road, and Bayview Avenue are even more congested. It will affect the quality of life for ALL residents when the local schools, hospitals, emergency services have to contend with more residents.
Guess what? There are plenty of available apartments in Great Neck! Check the real estate listings. Revitalization of our downtown is necessary, I agree. But building more apartments, with questionable safety, is not the answer.
If you think the addition of 60 housing units is going to change your life, you’re mistaken.
The problem is NO project is EVER satisfactory to people who just reflexively object to ANY change.
That’s what this is about. Just senseless fear.
And please stop with the “greedy developers” shtick. They build things for a living. It’s like accusing fire fighters of liking fires.
I agree, Nina!!!!! Well said!!!!
Community planning is a long-term process. The zoning laws set a standard and give potential buyers an idea of what sort of community they’re moving to. If the local government basically disregards zoning laws, it changes the community character and cheats. It says: “You’re buying a house in a quiet suburban neighborhood with low density and small houses”. But after I bought my house, it allows to build apartment houses near my house. It may be amazing for those who bought a one-family lot and were able to build a luxury apartment house instead, but it’s a property devaluation for all small houses around.
I also want to remind you that two years ago a proposed rezoning plan was decisively dismissed by residents. They filled the Village Hall meeting room and presented 1500 signatures protesting the plans. That the local government keeps implementing this rejected plan is against the law and against the will of the majority of the residents. The village boards approve projects that violate existing zoning laws on regular basis.
I would like to see evidence that the duly elected mayor is “violating” zoning laws.
And even if we’re true, you can’t keep the same rules in perpetuity.
Again, this is NEVER about quality of life, and these objections are written by people who have no knowledge of policy.
Every variance/waiver application is proof that the project doesn’t comply with the current zoning laws. Otherwise, they won’t need the variance or waiver.
Some rules stay longer than the others. Two years ago Great Neck residents stated clearly that they don’t want zoning changes.
You may claim I have not enough knowledge of policy. But you can’t tell me I don’t know what is MY quality of life.
1) There is nothing “illegal” about a variance. People get them all the time for their personal property as well. Zoning ordinances are not a suicide pact.
2) This is not and never WILL be, about “quality of life.” It’s a red herring for other issues people like to hide behind, including being reflexively obstructionist to any kind of change. It’s like “supporting the police.” It means something else.
3) Other people are entitled to quality of life too. Rules exist because individual incentives don’t always align with social welfare. So, you are forced to recycle, you wear a mask, you have to get car insurance, all sorts of things, in order to secure common security for ALL of us. You’re not the only actor here, and neither are the petition signers.
4) Don’t like 60 unit buildings? Fine. Thanks to the institutionalized looting by our civil service and education cabals, smaller buildings aren’t economically viable. Maybe tackle THAT problem.
A month ago, I wrote how blind people are to the consequences of their actions to other people, including ones they might even care about. But whether you know them or not, these “others” are not some abstraction. They’re real people. And you’re harming them by denying their place in the sun.
Aside from that, the long term economic consequences of freezing development could be especially harmful to the community. And the ones who are going to be living here after you’ve moved away shouldn’t have to deal with that problem.