Village of Great Neck purchasing property adjacent to East Shore Road

Janelle Clausen
The Village of Great Neck is purchasing a property adjacent to East Shore Road. (Photo from Nassau County Department of Assessment)
The Village of Great Neck is purchasing a property adjacent to East Shore Road. (Photo from Nassau County Department of Assessment)

The Village of Great Neck voted to purchase a property touching its old sewage treatment plant at 265 East Shore Road last week, answering a years-old question on whether or not to buy the land.

Clerk-Treasurer Joe Gill said that the village’s previous administration originally planned to put village hall or a public works facility there and said it could be used for that purpose, but he could not confirm if the village planned to do so now.

“It’s something the village has contemplated either buying or condemning for several years,” Gill said.

Because the real estate deal for 53 Vista Hill Road, which has more than an acre of land, is not complete, Gill said the amount could not be disclosed.

The village plans to subdivide the property into two lots and will appear before the Planning Board of the Village of Great Neck on Thursday at Village Hall at 7:30 p.m.

Gill said officials are hoping to get about one acre of the Vista Hill lot, which could “nearly double the size” of the village’s East Shore Road property.

Great Neck Village Mayor Pedram Bral said the village decided to buy the property because it will add “significant value” and create “more opportunities and possibilities of using the land for village purposes.”

Bral said negotiations are ongoing, but that he hopes to “be able to have a serious discussion” about the property at the next Board of Trustees meeting.

The decision comes as the village pushes for the “revitalization” of Middle Neck Road and East Shore Road, which has included discussion of moving the public works facility and Village Hall elsewhere in the village.

A citizens advisory committee is working with VHB, the village’s consultant on revitalization, to come up with a “master plan” of sorts. Among the group’s recommendations were simplifying the site plan approval process, creating a more vibrant and walkable space, and updating the zoning code.

The group also recommended selling the current Department of Public Works building and relocating its facility, with the condition that the buyer create a mixed-use building with “moderately priced units” and an outdoor 40-by-200-foot area reserved for “pedestrian use.”

The group also suggested selling Village Hall, located on Baker Hill Road, and opening a new one on Middle Neck Road.

Barbara Berkowitz, president of the Board of Education, and Bral both said there have been no updates regarding a potential sale of Village Hall to the school district.

In unrelated business, the village also turned over portions of property to the Great Neck Water Pollution Control District as part of an inter-municipal agreement transferring ownership and operation to the village’s sewer collection system.

These properties include 16 Spring Lane, 37 Piccadilly Road and a block of Red Brook Road.

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