Third Shop Delight expansion plan sees same criticism

The third try by a Great Neck Plaza kosher supermarket, Shop Delight, at expanding in Great Neck has been met with criticism similar to what it received in its first two attempts.
At Wednesday’s Great Neck Plaza Board of Trustees meeting, Shop Delight owner Mike Karam and his attorney, Paul Bloom, introduced plans to operate a storage facility, administrative office and location for preparing goods in a vacant storefront three stores down from the supermarket on Welwyn Road.
“To accept this concept is going to help what we have right now,” Karam said. “It will help the situation, it will help the congestion.”
Shop Delight decided to withdraw its application two months ago to operate a butcher shop at the same location after trustees expressed concerns over violations of the supermarket’s existing conditional-use permit and traffic safety.
Karam was met again with the same concerns from trustees.
Deputy Mayor Ted Rosen and Trustee Lawrence Katz both said that within the past week, they have seen violations by delivery trucks unloading products in other areas besides the designated loading zone in front of the supermarket.
“Why with this record of repeated noncompliance of the conditions imposed by this board, agreed to by Shop Delight, the very same applicant that is here tonight, why should this board accept these representations that there will be compliance with these conditions?” Rosen said.
Shop Delight’s current conditional-use permit restricts deliveries to 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Wednesday.
Bloom said the application was an effort to alleviate congestion and concerns about truck deliveries.
Acknowledging that truck deliveries have “been an issue since day one,” he said the storage facility would have a loading zone for trucks in the back to prevent them from parking and blocking traffic on Welwyn Road.
Bloom said that using the proposed facility for storage would increase the supermarket’s space to hold items, which would decrease the number of deliveries.
Trustee Gerald Schneiderman said he has seen trucks that are supposed to be unloading in the back of the supermarket unloading in the front.
Schneiderman suggested that if the application was approved, strict conditions should be imposed to ensure that deliveries are actually made in the back of the facility.
Karam said the proposed storage facility is intended to alleviate traffic concerns,  prevent truck congestion and create a more comfortable storage area than the supermarket currently has.
“Shop Delight is not doing this to increase sales,” he said. “We will have a space to put everything under one roof, that’s the whole thing.”
But Rosen said that businesses that attempt to expand their product space often do so to increase sales.
“How do we know the effect of this would not overall be, not just to increase the volume of each delivery, but to increase the scope of the products being delivered, which would therefore, basically, not necessarily cut down the number of deliveries and might very well serve to drive up the volume of sales and make this busy location even busier,” he said.
Bloom said the supermarket was not expanding its retail space to increase the volume of products sold.
Great Neck Plaza Mayor Jean Celender said she had concerns about truck drivers being able to maneuver into the back of the facility because they would have to make a three-point turn.
“I think its asking a lot for these drivers to do,” Celender said. “There may be a car back there trying to park.”
Bloom said they tried a “simulation” to see if a truck would be able to get into and out of the back loading zone.
“Is it better to not have that area and to still continue to have the problem of truckers parking in the front because we’re not providing this?” he asked.
Celender said she wanted to see a plan from a traffic engineer to see if it were possible.
Charlie Reed, the landlord for the storefront, said he had no concerns about trucks entering the back of the facility and that he supported Shop Delight’s attempt to address  problems.
“We honestly believe they’re trying to make the situation better for the neighborhood. We feel that they are trying to alleviate the problem,” Reed said. “They’re not going anywhere, so the problem will exist, so they’re trying to make it better.”
Peter Butchen, a resident and member of the village’s Citizens Advisory Committee, said the expansion would increase the volume of customers patronizing the store.
“I wish you all the luck in the world, but not in this location,” Butchen said. “This location is not appropriate for the amount of business that’s being done there.”
Resident Jeffrey Schwartz, who is Celender’s husband, said he believes the application is more of an effort to alleviate the supermarket’s problems than to increase sales.
“I think the board needs to get a little more familiar with exactly what the retail operation here is in terms of what they want to do,” Schwartz said. “Unless the floor space is expanding, I’d like to see a better explanation of how what they want to do is going to increase foot traffic into that store.”
Rosen said he supported the application, but wanted to see Shop Delight comply with its current conditional-use permit.
“If your client can do that and have a record for doing that, I will be the first one to vote for this application tonight,” he said. “But the record of compliance over the years has not been there and you’re asking us to accept certain premises and I have a difficulty with that … based upon the experiences we’ve had with the applicant.”
Trustees said they wanted Karam and Bloom to present the board with a list of who will be delivering to the back loading zone and how many times per week.
Discussions on the application were adjourned to the Sept. 7 meeting.