Success is famously the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.
The group of concerned Great Neck residents (join us at greatneckforward@gmail.com) are full of enthusiasm confronting the last approval of the new mixed-use development at 523 Middle Neck Road that we protested. The house where popular Middle Neck Pharmacy unexpectedly lost its rent a year ago, will be two stories of apartments over first-floor storefronts (hopefully not empty ones – no commitments exist currently).
The new development will have only seven parking spaces, (instead of the 18 required by zoning law) and is supposed to utilize the adjacent public parking shared by Everfresh Supermarket, Cho-Sen Village restaurant, Bagel Hut, Marine Fishery, Dressing, and newly established Pizza Roxx.
The parking lot is constantly jammed and already now insufficient to accommodate the needs of the local stores. The Middle Neck Road in front of the popular Everfresh is already now subject to double parking and to constant complains.
This project adds even more residents, cars and businesses to the place already plagued with empty storefronts, traffic, and parking problems.
I don’t say this particular development lacks any communal thinking. I like the idea of setting the building back and providing beautified public space in front of the building. Good forward thinking if others follow the trend. But it doesn’t change the suffocating impact on the local stores.
In the age of Amazon even popular places are struggling to survive, availability of convenient parking is the matter of life and death for most businesses; especially in the town as inconvenient (even dangerous) for pedestrians and bikers as Great Neck is. People will be even less likely to go to Bagel Hut and Everfresh if there’s no parking there! So this building will actually harm not help businesses.
To the residents’ questions about insufficient parking spots, mayor Bral answered: „We‘re not asking the question, because it’s their business model that they have.“ The mayor also called the question „irrelevant“. No wonder the businesses in Great Neck fail again and again.
Parking consideration should be an important part of every business plan. How possibly can a business survive if it has no parking? How possibly people can rent an apartment so far from the station and have no cars? This particular project shows how irresponsible new developments kill our businesses and jam our roads.
The local government is an active participant in this process. The project could never be implemented if the government won’t be willing to fulfill the developer’s wishes. First of all, the project would be economically not viable without the variances granted: according to the current zoning the building with 10 apartments must have 20 parking spaces.
Second, to secure future access to the street from the rear of the building, the developer is asking for an easement on the public parking lot at no cost. Why?
Such a grant may make sense if the project would result in very significant public benefit, which doesn’t seem to be the case here. This easement comes at a significant cost to VGN taxpayers because it would severely constrain development opportunity on a sizable VGN-owned parcel.
If the village would like to reshape the parking space it will need to pay off the easement owners (with taxpayers’ money). Why would the board make such a generous present to the developers at taxpayers’ cost?
I call all Great Neck village, town and county officials, to declare a moratorium on new developments in Great Neck and come together ASAP to develop a peninsula wide business, traffic, and development plan, that would coordinate priorities and necessities for businesses with quality of life for residents.
I would also like to remind, that good community planning includes not only adding new apartments and storefronts (especially into already congested and full of empty storefronts area), but also the expansion of the infrastructure as well as recreational and educational public spaces in accordance with the growing population.
It also includes a community development agreement that provides a mechanism through which the benefits of investment projects are shared directly with our community: contributions to the expansion of our schools, parks, roads, etc.
Communal development is not a one-way road. If you constantly and decisively disregard the interests of your residents, constituents, taxpayers, neighbors, be prepared for backlash.
I call all decent, community-minded politicians, developers, business people, and residents to join our movement to protect the beauty and quality of life of Great Neck.
Kate Goldberg
Great Neck
