Commuters and Great Neck Plaza residents will soon have another place to get their morning bagel fix, as the village board approved a conditional-use permit for a new cafe near the Great Neck Long Island Rail Road station.
James and Sun Lee, the owners of Bagel Town on Northern Boulevard, plan on opening a bagel and deli shop at the previous site of Turquoise, a seafood restaurant that has since moved to a Middle Neck Road storefront.
The board approved the application after directing a series of questions to the Lees, as trustees stressed the delicate traffic situation at North Station Plaza and warned against double parking by employees or customers.
Another prospective restaurant near the station did not fare so well.
The owner of Station Mexican, a grill originally planned to open at the former site of the Carousel restaurant on South Station Plaza, withdrew his application two weeks after residents of an adjoining apartment building voiced strong disapproval of the plan.
Restaurateur Bill Chan, the owner of Taco King restaurants in Forest Hills and West Hempstead, had planned on making deliveries by car from Station Mexican, which was to be located on the lower level of the Wychwood apartment building.
But residents, wary after negative experiences with a hibachi restaurant that had previously occupied the space, warned of potential traffic and quality-of-life problems.
The board also discussed payments to H2M engineering, which is inspecting the renovation of the Grace Avenue municipal parking lot.
The project is weeks over schedule, and the board approved $1,600 in additional payments to H2M – half of the $3,200 requested by the firm.
Village of Great Neck Plaza Mayor Jean Celender said that though H2M deserved to be compensated for the additional work, they had not informed the board of additional costs before billing the village, and appeared to be charging for weeks after Hurricane Sandy when no work was done.
“I don’t think that’s the way you should operate as a consultant,” Celender said.
