The Village of Great Neck established April 7 as David Kufeld Day to honor the former professional basketball player and Great Neck resident.
Kufeld is an American-Israeli trailblazer in basketball who became the first Orthodox Jewish NBA player when he was drafted by the Portland Trail Blazers in 1980.
The Jewish Sports Heritage Association, a nonprofit focused on education about Jewish athletes and their contributions to the sports world, requested April 7 to be declared David Kufeld Day to coincide with their sixth annual induction ceremony.
The organization will be inducting Kufeld at the ceremony. The Village of Great Neck will be providing a proclamation to Kufeld at the ceremony.
The decision to declare the honorary day was made at the Great Neck Board of Trustees meeting on Jan. 2.
Also decided at the meeting was to replace fire lane signs at 481-497 Middle Neck Road after the original signs disappeared.
In 2018, village clerk-treasurer Abraham Cohan said the board voted to establish the area as a fire zone due to the narrow access way. Making it a fire zone would prevent vehicles from being able to park on that section of the street to ensure large emergency vehicles could access the area if needed.
Cohan said the signs are for the “health and the benefit” of the residents and businesses in the area.
The clerk said the signs indicating it was a fire zone were placed after the vote from the board, but went missing this past summer. He said it was not known what happened to the signs.
The board determined that the signs were still needed, Cohan said, and voted for the Department of Public Works to replace the signs.
The signs have been ordered and upon arrival, which is estimated to be within the next two weeks, they will installed immediately, Cohan said.
The board also discussed the request by Everfresh Supermarket to maintain its food delivery ramp for a storage food facility, which exceeds the business’ allowed setback.
The ramp is located at the exterior of the property. It currently leads to a pod but will connect delivery trucks to a food storage building once constructed.
Cohan said the business is located in an incentive-use zone, meaning that they can build more than what is allowed within the code by contributing to the community benefit fund for the village.
The business is paying about $40,000 to the fund to keep a ramp beyond the building’s permitted setback.
Cohan said the board is also asking for additional signage that states the food storage building is owned by the supermarket.
The clerk said the board agreed on the community benefit fund contribution and that the ramp would be able to remain.
While the board came to an agreement, no vote was taken. The resolutions associated with the supermarket’s request will be presented at the board’s next meeting.
The Great Neck Board of Trustees will convene again on Jan. 16.
