The Village of Great Neck Planning Board called for a special meeting to decide on plan by developer Frank Lalezarian to build 11 homes on 3.1 acres of woodland on Clover Drive after a Thursday night hearing stretched into early Friday morning with no resolution.
“It’s late,” acting chair Raymond Iryami said. “We’re going to schedule a special meeting where we’ll decide on a final vote.”
The special meeting was later scheduled for Thursday, May 1 at 7:30 a.m.
Iryami said in an e-mail to the Great Neck News on Wednesday that the meeting’s early start time was the only time the board members and village engineer would be available.
“We could not find an evening when everyone would be available, so we had no choice to schedule it for an early morning,” he said.
The meeting last week was intended to determine whether Lalezarian would have to set aside parkland or pay a fee in lieu of parkland for the project, which has already received approval from the Village of Great Neck board of zoning and appeals.
Attorney Paul Bloom, a former chair of the planning board who is representing Lalzerian on the project, said the set aside of parkland was “not feasible” for the proposed cul de sac.
“It is impractical,” Bloom said. “I do no believe it is practical or feasible.”
Bloom said the village already had many “active and passive” parks and was not in need of another one.
“The Village of Great Neck is blessed by being part of the Great Neck Parks District,” Bloom said. “The establishment of yet another park would be in fact that which is not a practical approach.”
Village of Great Neck Mayor Ralph Kreitzman said in a letter to the planning board that the board of trustees did not support the idea of establishing another park in the village, Bloom said.
Resident Rebecca Rosenblatt Gilliar said that Kreitzman’s letter should not be taken into consideration by the planning board.
“I’m positively horrified that my mayor would try to interfere with my planning board,” Gilliar said.
Gilliar also said that the park trust fund, which could be used by the board of trustees for the improvement of village parks, has remained at about $540,000 for the past two years.
“I would say that you need parkland,” Gilliar said.
Planning board member Michael Fuller agreed with Gilliar.
“We’re talking about 3.1 acres here,” Fuller said. “That’s a lot of land, that’s a lot of impact.”
Fuller had suggested a parcel of land behind one of the properties in the cul-de-sac, which would meet the required 3,500 square feet for the set aside of parkland.
Bloom had suggested another parcel of land, which would be about double the size needed.
But residents at the meeting argued Bloom’s proposal would not be accessible to village residents.
Board members also discussed how much the land would be valued at, if they voted to require Lalezarian to pay a fee in lieu of parkland.
Barry Nelson, a licensed real estate appraiser from East Meadow speaking on Lalezarian’s behalf, said the developer would have to pay about $2 million, based on the value of the land.
Nelson’s calculations were handed to the board at about midnight in a 40-page report.
The report also calculated certain expenses connected with the project, including road and sewer work.
Included in those expenses was $300,000 in legal fees to defend the proposal in a potential lawsuit against the Village of Great Neck Estates, which must also approve the proposal as the site falls within parts of that village.
