Despite opposition from neighbors, Mineola trustees voted Wednesday to let a Citibank branch move into the bottom floor of Lalezarian Developers’ apartment building at 250 Old Country Road
Critics of the change – most of whom live near Mineola’s border with Garden City – said adding the bank would increase traffic jams and risks for pedestrians who try to cross the busy streets.
“Many of us are unhappy because of the congestion,” said Patricia Donnelly, a resident of the Cherry Valley co-op apartments on 15th Street. “It is a danger. How are we ever going to manage it without a catastrophe?”
Maureen Grodotzke, Donnelly’s neighbor, said car accidents happen near the site “almost weekly.”
A car hit another resident, Margaret Massie, while she was walking to Mineola’s train station, Massie said.
Joan Power, another Cherry Valley resident, said she thinks the building would not have enough parking spaces for the bank’s employees and customers, including those who may transfer their accounts there.
But Kevin Walsh, Lalezarian’s attorney, said the building has ample parking to accommodate the bank, which would share the first floor with a 1,600-square-foot coffee shop. Cars parking in its 426-spot underground garage would not affect traffic on nearby West Street, Trustee Paul Pereira said.
Lalezarian examined parking demand at similar projects, including two in Great Neck, to come up with the current proposal, Walsh said. Its November traffic study found the impact on local parking would be “negligible.”
Walsh said he was sympathetic to the concerns of the Cherry Valley residents, but that their “well-meaning comments” about traffic on West Street “doesn’t reflect what’s going to happen” on Third Avenue.
“I don’t think anybody cares,” Donnelly said. “They will care when there is a big accident.”
The building under construction will hold 220 one-bedroom apartments, 82 two-bedrooms and nine three-bedrooms.
Each unit comes with one parking space included in the lease, which Trustee Dennis Walsh praised.
“I’m glad to hear you can lease an apartment to someone and include the spot and not give them the option of not taking it and parking in our commuter lots,” Walsh said.
Kevin Walsh said they were part of Lalezerian’s original plan for the building, one of its two projects in downtown Mineola. The other, 315-unit Village Green, will replace a Citibank branch at 199 Second Street.
Trustees also approved Wednesday a contract with Level G Associates LLC to conduct a first-ever villagewide parking study.
The village board also signed off on first-class U.S. radius mailings to meet notice requirements for zoning appeals and special-use permits. Village of Mineola Mayor Scott Strauss called the change a sensible, less costly procedure requested by Mineola residents.
The board also passed a new law requiring parking spaces for apartment buildings that apply for certificates of occupancy after Jan. 1, 2016, as well as a resolution to add a definition for “hookah bar” in the village code, designating hookah bars as a permitted use under the zoning category for light manufacturing and industrial uses.
