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Town says no to Western Beef
Originally published in the 2004 May 13 edition of The
Wantagh-Seaford Citizen. More than a dozen North Bellmore residents testified before the Town of Hempstead council members at a recent meeting urging them to pass a new zoning ordinance that could keep Western Beef out of the shopping center on Jerusalem Avenue and Pea Pond Road in North Bellmore. The Board voted unanimously to pass an amendment of Section 272 (C) (1) of the building zone ordinance in relation to "Special permits for Certain Uses in the Business (X) Zone". What that means to North Bellmore and Wantagh residents is that Western Beef will now have to go before the Board of Zoning Appeals. "They [Western Beef] must apply for a variance .... and show that traffic generation is not going to present a problem for the area", said Town attorney Joe Ra.
The amendment was passed on April 27 and goes into effect last week. The new amendment identifies 12 two-lane roads, adjacent to or within the Business (X) Zone within the Town of Hempstead that have high traffic volumes. One of those areas identified in the study was Pea Pond Road in North Bellmore. Michael Galente, representing Frederick P. Clarke Associates, was hired to do a traffic study of the 12 corridors in town. "During the process we sent out field investigators, looked at how certain intersections operated. We looked at peak hours, identified where there was congestion and if there were significant delays. We also looked at accident records by intersection," said Mr. Galente. "Some of these roads have volumes of 300 to 1,700 vehicles in any particular day." He added that "at these twelve intersections, accidents ranged from zero to 60 in a one-year period. If there are five or more accidents [at an intersection] than it needs more study." David Stolman, President of Frederick P. Clarke Associates, said "we found significant congestion and accidents. If a project exceed that recommended threshold for these roads (100 trips a day) then I recommend that the Board consider a special acceptance permit." Mr. Galente spoke specifically about Pea Pond Road and Jerusalem Avenue. "Traffic has increased and conditions have changed in the last five years since the A & P was there," he said. "I don't need a traffic study to tell me there is a problem in this area," said Carrie Wilson, a North Bellmore resident. "Traffic backs up from Southern State Parkway [onto Jerusalem Avenue]. People speed down Saw Mill Road at 40 or 50 miles an hour." Grace Cramsie said, "in the last seven years I have seen that area grow. We have an active pizzeria, a drive-thru Dunkin' Donuts, a busy doctor's office. There are 650 students at Saw Mill Road school. The amount of traffic is tremendous. It's a two lane road and people park. Then you add a bus or two and it's a big problem. The [ball] fields [at the school] are in use as well." But Andrew Campanelli, an attorney representing Western Beef, urged the Town Board not to pass the amendment because "if you adopt this, then you ratify and embrace bigotry. The Town is better than that and so are the citizens of North Bellmore." Western Beef wants to open a supermarket in the former A & P. Mr. Campanelli referred to what he called "racist remarks" made at the North Bellmore Civic Association Meeting about the customers of Western Beef. But Patricia Daley Jimenez said that she "takes offense about the comment made about minorities. I am concerned about the safety of the children [at Saw Mill School]. I am aware that there was an A & P at this location where Western Beef now wants to put their store. But the traffic is horrendous." "We live in an integrated community", said Gloria Weiss. "We all know what happens when any supermarket comes in; there's more traffic. We cannot take it. We can't walk to Saturday services. It's a very dangerous situation." "I'm not a racist," said Rozanne Pelansky. "I'm a walker and I walk to synagogue every Saturday. Every single winter Jerusalem Avenue is impassable. I ended up in a cast. My husband is in a scooter and we can't cross the streets. We can't take any more traffic." But the best illustration of the traffic congestion was presented by Lisa Schary. "Not too long ago one of the Long Island buses broke down and we had a big problem. There are lots of dead ends [in the neighborhood] and it was a nightmare trying to get the traffic through our neighborhoods. "It's easy to pick inflammatory remarks from the paper. Why don't you come to our community and see [the traffic]? We don't want any business that will bring an excessive amount of traffic into the area", said Scott Martin. Just before the Town Board voted, Mr. Ra again spoke to residents. "As a legislative body, we can not blanketedly prohibit an otherwise legal use", he said, referring to the proposed Western Beef Supermarket on Pea Pond Road and Jerusalem Avenue. "The property is zoned for business." |