The Mineola Board of Trustees approved permits at last Wednesday night’s board meeting for a new auto repair shop to open on Herricks Road and to allow Maxim Hygiene Products to sell food and bottled drinks at its Jericho Turnpike store.
Attorney Bonnie Parente, representing Maxim Hygiene President Kenneth Alvandi, said the company wants a special-use permit to sell gluten-free food products and natural beverages such as fruit juices at its 121 East Jericho Turnpike location. She said the company currently sells “eco-friendly” and hypoallergenic feminine hygiene products at the store and distributes those products nationally and internationally.
“The purpose is to expand the activities of the property without expanding the property,” Parente said.
She said the business has five employees, and said she didn’t anticipate a parking problem during its business hours between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. or 6 p.m. She said Avandi has invested $150,000 in upgrading the location since purchasing it earlier this year.
Asked about additional waste at the location, Avandi said he didn’t expect that to be an issue and there would be a small storage area on-site for the products.
“Everything we would buy has a long shelf life,” Avandi said.
He also said he has no plans to prepare food in the store.
“My main business is my own products,” he said. “Our main business goes to distributors around the U.S.”
Those products include cotton-based hygiene products for women, such as organic cotton balls for various uses. He said the cotton products are produced in Europe.
“Based on my experience, the conventional products cause women to have irritation and rash,” Avandi said.
He said deliveries of what he described as “organic” drinks and food would be made only during normal business hours.
Explaining his application for special permit to establish an auto repair shop at 188 Herricks Road, Aris Papangelopoulos said he needs a larger location than his current repair shop at 290 Broadway in Garden City Park. He said he’s been repairing cars with his father at the Garden City Park location for the past 15 years.
“I’ve outgrown the property I occupy right now,” Papangelopoulos said.
He cited his credentials as a mechanic certified to repair a range of different vehicles, including hybrids. He said he has drawn on the customer base his father built up in a previous business and now has second and third generation clients of families who were his father’s customers.
“I have a loyal customer base,” Papangelopoulos said.
He said he plans to have three or four lift bays in the new repair shop and wants to put a door in the front of the existing building the shop will occupy.
In response to a question from Village of Mineola Deputy Mayor Paul Pereira, Papangelopoulos said he would not be buying or selling used cars on the property. He also said he will not have a paint booth in the shop, which he said will only handle vehicle repairs.
Papangelopoulos said he will recycle waste oil in a waste oil heater he will use on the premises and plans to install “green” LED exterior lights on the building, which will be equipped with a motion sensor.
In other developments:
• Village Clerk Joseph Scalero has been elected president of the Long Island Village Clerks & Treasurers Association.
• The village board voted to renew its service agreement with the Mineola Volunteer Ambulance Corps.
Reach reporter Richard Tedesco by e-mail at rtedesco@theislandnow.com or by phone at 516.307.1045 x204. Also follow us on Twitter @theislandnow1 and Facebook at facebook.com/theislandnow.
