The Village of Great Neck Board of Trustees on Tuesday unanimously voted to not reappoint planning board member Robin Gordon, who in May was the lone planning board member to vote no on developer Frank Lalezarian’s Clover Drive application.
Trustees at the village board’s annual reorganization meeting gave no reason for not reappointing Gordon from the board.
Fred Knauer, who previously served as an alternate member for the board, was named to replace Gordon.
Richard Stancati was named the new alternate member for the board.
Appointments to all village boards are under the jurisdiction of the board of trustees.
Efforts to reach Village of Great Neck Mayor Ralph Kreitzman and village planning board Chair Charles Segal for comment were unavailing.
Gordon said in an e-mail “this is no surprise.”
“I found that my understanding of service to represent the interests of the community could not stand up against the pressure put on the board from developers such as Frank Lalezarian and David Adelipour, both of whom have used the expertise of ex-planning board chair Paul Bloom for their personal benefit,” Gordon said. “This bodes ill for Great Neck.”
Gordon was the lone board member to vote against Lalezarian’s plan to build 11 homes on 3.1 acres of woodland on Clover Drive on the border of Great Neck and Great Neck Estates at a May 15 meeting of the planning board. Lalezarian’s plan was approved by the board 3-1, with board member Allegra Goldberg abstaining from the vote.
The board’s vote in favor of the proposal followed a special board meeting on May 1 that began at 7:30 a.m, in which four board members said they would vote against the application citing safety concerns.
Gordon said at that meeting the planning board should hold off on voting for the proposal until it gained the Great Neck Estates’s okay since the only access to the proposed development went through Great Neck Estates.
“I think that this violates the village precedent in a way that hurts the village,” Gordon said.
Board members Goldberg, Michael Fuller and Knauer agreed with Gordon, saying they would deny the application.
Goldberg, Fuller and Knauer reversed themselves after an executive session called by acting board Chairman Raymond Iryami. Iryami said the 50-minute closed-door session was necessary for the board to receive advice of counsel.
Iryami announced after the closed-door session that the board would support the project contingent on Lalezarian receiving approval from Great Neck Estates and a state agency approving the development’s roadway.
At the May 15 meeting, Gordon voted against the proposal, saying the planning board could not guarantee the development would have an access road, which requires approval by Great Neck Estates, as well as safety concerns.
“There is a difficult driveway entrance on Clover Drive,” Gordon said explaining why she voted against the application. “There are numerous safety issues.”
“I think on so many levels that it’s bad for the community,” she added to applause from residents at the meeting. “I feel like this issue, in all of my years on the planning board has shown more potential to rip a community apart.”
Gordon said Lalezarian’s plan was the most controversial issue she has seen in her 20 years as a member of the planning board.
She said Wednesday she served on the village’s architectural review board before serving on the planning board.
She was asked to serve on the architectural review board by former Nayor Sidney Evan, after speaking out at a hearing that involved her street, she said.
In other developments:
• The board of trustees proposed to repeal the village’s workforce housing law and rely solely on the state’s Long Island Workforce Housing Act.
The village law requires developers building within the village to set aside 10 percent of an apartment building’s units for affordable housing. The law preceded the Long Island Workforce Housing Act, which also requires developers to set aside 10 percent of an apartment building’s units for affordable housing.
The state law was passed by the state Legislature in 2008.
The two laws taken together require developers to set aside 20 percent of an apartment’s units for affordable housing – 10 percent for the village and 10 percent for the state, village officials said.
Kreitzman said having the two laws exist side-by-side “would not make projects economical.”
Trustees delayed a vote on repealing the village law, pending comments from the Nassau County Planning Commission.
