North Hills Board of Trustees tables proposed changes to Dealertrack headquarters

Catherine Teevan

North Hills trustees tabled a decision Wednesday on proposed changes to the approved plans for a new Dealertrack Technologies headquarters at 3400 New Hyde Park Road.

Michael Spector, the architect on the 185,000-square-foot project and a former North Hills resident, and attorney William Bonesso introduced their revised office design at the board’s meeting.

The developers said they want to move a previously approved 2,500-square-foot outdoor terrace and garden from the third floor to the fourth-floor roof.  

The “very, very minor change” affords spectacular views of Manhattan, Spector said. 

“That’s why people come to New York,” he said.

But North Hills Mayor Marvin Natiss said he was not convinced these new plans are good for the village.

Natiss questioned who was going to use the space, how it would be used and what else people could see standing on the roof.  

“We wanted limitations on the roof. Now you want a quote-unquote ‘minor’ change,” he said, adding that the nearby Ritz-Carlton Residences and Bristal Assisted Living development have no outdoor terraces. “Will there be tables and chairs? You say, ‘I don’t know.’ You say it’s for people to enjoy the view. Why don’t they just look out a window?”

Natiss also said he did not remember the terrace having a seating area, and that the trustees did not want to see a bar in the space.

Spector and Bonesso said the revised plans do not include a kitchen and the rooftop garden would not be used for “entertaining.”   

“It was going be a green area for people to enjoy the fresh air,” Spector said, noting that prior plans for a garden with seating had already been approved.

The terrace was designed to accommodate “12 to 15 people” at Dealertrack’s request, Spector said at the meeting.

“They may have sounded tough, but these are reasonable questions that they should be asking,” he said in an interview.  

In other business, the North Hills board approved changes to notice requirements for public hearings.

Discussion on a new contract for the village’s Long Island Rail Road shuttle service was tabled “until we have more info on it,” the mayor said.

Natiss said the service had 847 users in September, up from 631 in 2014.  

Trustees also signed off on a positive annual audit report from Pappas & Co.  

“You’re telling us we’re running a good show,” said the mayor.

The board met for an executive session to discuss pending litigation, among other things.

A defamation lawsuit was filed against the North Hills Country Club in September by a Great Neck resident, officials said. 

Another legal action is awaiting judicial reassignment.

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