Is it just a case of one person’s risk being another person’s reward – or is it something else?
That was the question put to Town of North Hempstead officials regarding a parcel of land which was recently accepted by the Town Council as ‘open space’ after apparently being rejected by the Village of Kings Point earlier.
At an Oct. 5 meeting, Town of North Hempstead council members accepted a parcel of undeveloped land located on Middle Neck and Split Rock roads, owned by Great Neck developer Frank Lalezarian.
According to published newspaper reports, Lalezarian was turned down by the Village of Kings Point before approaching the Town of North Hempstead with the land offer, where it was unanimously approved by the Town Council.
Kings Point Mayor Michael Kalnick and Deputy Clerk Kathleen Conroy were unavailable for comment.
Town of North Hempstead spokesperson Collin Nash said the town accepted the donation to add to its open space.
“As a matter of public policy, the town is interested in preserving open space when it has the opportunity and resources to do so,” Nash said. “We have acquired property in the town through grants, environmental legacy fund dollars, and gifts of property in the past and will continue to do so consistent with our goal of preserving open space when the opportunity presents itself. This was just such a case and so the town accepted the gift of land located in Kings Point.”
In an e-mail to the Great Neck News, local resident Javid Zarabi wrote that Kaiman accepted a piece ‘worthless marsh land property’ from Lalezarian ‘for the sole purpose of taking the property off the tax roles and to give the developer a deduction worth $1.5 million off his taxes.”
There is a price to be paid for everything, and there is no free lunch, according to Nash, who confirmed to Blank Slate Media that property donated by Lalezarian will ultimately be taken off the tax roles by the Town of North Hempstead.
“You can’t have one of the greatest towns around and have no open spaces,” said Nash. “The bottom line is that we have to have open space somewhere.”
Zarabi suggested that it’s wrong for Kaiman and the Town Council to reward Lalezarian with the tax break and accept the land.
“This is unacceptable and another example of self serving, bad government in our town under (Town of North Hempstead Supervisor Jon) Kaiman,” said Zarabi.
Lalezarian did not respond to a request for comment made to his office by Blank Slate Media.
According to Nash, the land issue is a done deal with no further discussion planned.
In another matter related to Lalezarian, the Village of Great Neck Plaza Board of Trustees recently announced a Jan. 5 public hearing to consider a revised building plan for an undeveloped lot on Great Neck Road owned by Lalezerian.
