Town says no to Western Beef
by Laura Schofer
Originally published in the 2004 May 13 edition of The
Wantagh-Seaford Citizen.
Published online with kind permission from our friends at The 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.
Western Beef will now have to go
before the Board of Zoning Appeals.
They must apply for a variance ....
and show that traffic generation is not going to present a problem for
the area. |
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." |