The Mineola Board of Trustees Wednesday night was given a presentation on potential ways to revitalize different business districts in the village. 

The presentation was in line with the vision of newly elected Mayor Paul Pereira and the rest of the board’s interest in reimagining different parts of Mineola. 

“My view is that retail as we know it no longer exists,” Pereira said. “And it’s not coming back the way we knew.”

Specifically, the board heard a presentation from Paul Grygiel on creating an overlay district on the strip of Jericho between Willis Avenue and Marcellus Road and on Main Street, First Street and Second Street between Mineola Boulevard and Willis.

Grygiel is a city planning and development consultant with previous experience in Mineola, which included a helping hand in the creation of the master plan of Mineola in the mid-2000s. 

Overlay zones create special zoning districts on previously established districts that can allow for additional criteria. 

An overlay zone, as presented, would allow future development to possibly be residential-only and exceed the maximum height of 25 feet but not go above 40 feet. 

“The overlay districts essentially mean we will entertain good projects,” Pereira said. “If we don’t like it, you can still build but at 25 feet.”

Grygiel noted that the master plan, enacted in 2005, labeled the Jericho Turnpike area as an appropriate place for pedestrian-oriented development, mentioning specifically that some outside-the-box methods of increasing development would be mixed-residential buildings, a conference space, hotel or movie theater, among other possibilities. 

“The idea with Jericho is to take what you have and potentially allow the market to say, with newer options for development, let’s invest money here,” Grygiel said. 

Pereira clarified that nothing was being voted on Wednesday night but added that the current setup doesn’t allow businesses to be bought and redeveloped outside of what the current parameters are. The mayor said that on Jericho developers are not allowed to put residential units on the first floor and that is something he would entertain in the future, if possible. 

Grygiel said the focus for the Main Street area was to preserve and enhance a traditional downtown area. He pointed out that buildings can only be two stories and allowing for a third could promote development.

For additional residential units to be developed, current regulations would require parking spaces to be put in place, but a potential remedy would be a payment in lieu of parking program that would set funds aside for specific parking developments in the village. 

Any specifics on a potential payment in lieu of parking program would be dictated by the village, Grygiel said.

“Developers could pay a one-time fee per parking spot and funds can go to a parking lot or parking structure if the opportunity presented itself,” Grygiel said. 

Pereira said he liked Grygiel’s suggestions and that he is open to gathering any information to improve the village.

“This enables us to be able to entertain opportunities that are beneficial to developers, property owners, landlords and the village,” Pereira said.