New Hyde Park Mayor Christopher Devane said during the Thursday night trustees meeting there are currently no plans before the board to redevelop the current property of Miller Brothers Plumbing and Heating.
The property at 1324 Jericho Turnpike changed ownership earlier this year and the new owners recently held two meetings with village residents on developments they are considering, which included a four-story building with 46 residential units.
Devane told residents the village urged the new developers to speak with the public on any considerations before submitting any proposals to the board.
“Nothing has been submitted to this board,” Devane said multiple times at the beginning of the trustees’ board reports. “The earliest at this point something would be submitted to this board would be October.”
Once a proposal is submitted, like any other application before the board, a public hearing will be held where public comments can be heard, Devane said.
At the Jan. 19 trustees meeting Devane said it was time to reimagine developments on the turnpike and bring an influx of development to the area. The mayor added that the old way of doing things in the village with mixed-use retail and apartments on top was not working.
“From a village standpoint we are trying to improve the quality of our stores and buildings so it becomes an attractive place to live and shop,” Devane said in January. “And if we do it right, other owners can tell themselves if we fix up our buildings, too, people will pay top dollar to live in the apartments above.”
Devane reiterated those sentiments Thursday night, saying when he drives on Jericho he chooses “to look straight ahead because I don’t like what I see to the left and to the right.”
The Miller Brothers property, which is adjacent to New Hope Community Church and two properties away from village hall, is one of the deepest from the turnpike.
Trustee Rainer Burger said one of the lessons learned from a 2015 application to turn the property into a Harley-Davidson motorcycle dealership–-which was met with resident opposition–-was to gauge public feedback ahead of time before finalizing proposals submitted to the board.
“Once you get that, incorporate their comments and come back to us and we will hold a formal public hearing,” Burger said, summing up what the board told developers this year.
In unrelated village news, Devane said the village intends to go out for bid on the new Marcus Christ Hall by the end of the year. The village is in the process of getting numbers finalized but has $700,000 in grants for the project, with $250,000 from Nassau County and $450,000 from the state, Devane said.
The village is also planning on going out to bid to tear down the 97-year-old DPW building and build a new one within the framework of the approximately $5.1 million budget, Devane said.
The board also approved an application during a public hearing to renovate the existing mixed-use building at 608 Jericho Turnpike to replace the businesses on the first floor and add three residential units for a total of 10 in the building.
