Village of Floral Park voters will have two unopposed trustees on the ballot when they go to the polls Tuesday.
Trustee Archie Cheng and Deputy Mayor Kevin Fitzgerald are running for re-election with the Citizens Party, Floral Park’s dominant local party.
Fitzgerald, first appointed a trustee in 2011 and made deputy mayor following the December death of the late Trustee James Rhatigan, is seeking a third full two-year term.
Cheng is seeking his first full term after his appointment to Rhatigan’s seat in February.
Both trustees are leading Floral Park’s fight against a proposed video casino at Belmont Park and the Long Island Rail Road’s plans for a third track starting in the village — two projects village residents feel are being foisted upon them, Fitzgerald has said.
Cheng said last month he hopes residents will consider a vote for the unopposed pair as “proxy” for not wanting a casino or third track.
Fitzgerald chairs the village’s Belmont Park Task Force, which sponsored a January rally that drew more than 2,000 people against Nassau Regional Off-Track Betting Corp.’s casino proposal for the Elmont racetrack.
Opponents in Floral Park and other communities bordering Belmont Park say the casino would increase crime and traffic and lower property values in the area.
Supporters say it would bring much-needed revenue to Nassau County and create quality jobs. Belmont Park is a logical home for a casino because it already hosts gambling on horse racing, they have said.
Fitzgerald has appeared with other local opponents at Nassau County Legislature meetings to speak publicly against the proposal.
OTB has said it is gathering input for a benefits package for how the casino could share revenue with host communities, but one has yet to emerge.
Floral Park has opposed casino proposals before and the village has retained Manhattan law firm Beveridge & Diamond to fight Nassau OTB’s plans in court.
After Cheng was sworn in as a trustee, he was tapped to lead the recently reactivated Third Track Task Force, originally created to fight the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s plan in the mid-2000s.
Cheng and the task force recently hosted a meeting last month to grow support and get opponents organized in their fight against the MTA and Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s new plans for a third track along 9.8 miles of the LIRR’s Main Line from Floral Park to Hicksville.
The committee has also started a Twitter campaign against the project to get Cuomo to remove third track funding from his 2016-2017 state budget, the focus of other opposition efforts.
State documents say the project is not in the current budget, but rather one of several Cuomo aims to complete over the next five years using a variety of funding sources.
Cuomo aides have said the new plan is far different from the project the MTA proposed in 2005, but Cheng and others have maintained that construction would have major negative impacts on quality of life in the village and harm businesses, residences and schools abutting the railroad.
Floral Park last week became the first village along the affected stretch to adopt a resolution against the third track, saying the MTA should fix existing infrastructure before taking on a large-scale project.
Cuomo and the MTA have said the new plan, estimated to cost $1.5 billion, would be built within the LIRR’s existing right of way to minimize the impact of construction and would require 50 property acquisitions, about a fifth of the takings the old plan would have needed.
The governor also told village officials last month that any full proposal would eliminate the seven street-level crossings along the corridor.
Proponents argue the third track would ease east- and westbound commutes and spur economic development on Long Island, eventually bringing thousands of new residents and billions of dollars to the economy.
The MTA has hired a consultant to do an environmental study, and has said will undertake an extensive community outreach effort to address local concerns.
Floral Park trustees are paid $5,000 per year.
Village voters will cast ballots March 15 from noon to 9 p.m.
