New York columnist Jimmy Breslin once wrote that if people wanted real power they wouldn’t run for Congress or other elected office, they get a seat on a zoning board.
He wasn’t wrong. Two articles in last week’s editions demonstrate the powerful role that zoning boards are playing in the development and future of Nassau County.
The first reported that the Hillside Islamic Center on Hillside Avenue in North New Hyde Park is on the verge of a $1.4 million expansion that would create a three-story structure replacing its existing one-story center at 300 Hillside Ave. in North New Hyde Park.
The president of the Islamic Center said the Town of North Hempstead Building Department had given its approval for preliminary plans and is in the final stages of its review process on plans that include a larger parking lot.
The review process can be lengthy, can delay construction for months and can even stop it all together. These delays can add considerably to the cost of development.
The plans for a proposed expansion of the Islamic center had been rejected by the Town of North Hempstead Board of Zoning Appeals last year after New Hyde Park residents expressed sharp opposition at a public hearing to the center’s plans to purchase adjacent residential properties to expand the parking lot of the existing structure.
Zoning boards tend to pay close attention to public sentiment and somewhat less attention to the law.
The leaders of the Islamic center said it was only after the denial that they learned that religious institutions don’t need the permission of the BZA to build in residential zones
Having gotten past the BZA, the leader of the Islamic center said “God willing,” the new building will be completed a year from now.
In the second article, we reported that the Village of Great Neck Board of Zoning Appeals concluded that the proposed development of a 24-hour 7-Eleven convenience store will not have a negative impact on the environment surrounding its building site along Middle Neck Road.
The board unanimously approved a “negative declaration” on the environmental implications of the Exxon Mobil Corporation’s project to rehabilitate the site that was once a gas with the opening of a 7-Eleven.
“We’re not approving or disapproving the case,” Village of Great Neck Board of Zoning Appeals Chairman Dennis Grossman said. “We’re making an environmental determination.”
It’s amazing that it took a three-hour meeting to decide a 7-Eleven wasn’t worse for the environment than a gas station. The well-organized and emotional opposition did their best to sway the board.
Village resident Jessica Vega said, “To be open 24-7 we have begun a slow eroding process, like water dripping on brick, eroding our quality of life. I beseech you, do not allow this to happen.”
In this case, reason triumphed over emotion. 7-Elevens don’t have a negative impact on quality of life. They aren’t noisy, they aren’t dangerous and they don’t cause traffic problems.
In both cases the boards held awesome power. The columnist was right. But even if they can name their local elected officials, most people can’t name one person on the zoning board.
