The-Leader_1976-08-05

              Waterfront Leader
In This Issue . . •
FREEPORT
BALDWIN
ROOSEVELT
MERRICK
EAST L'EAPO'.?, U Y 11554
^^^e-i^'^^
4IstyEARNo.l5 FREEPORT, NEW YORK. AUGUSTS, 1976 PRICE: 154 PER COPY
I ^\i\\dw% Plan Immediate
Tear Down of Eye-Spre
RI^J¥ithihejrfUBge!siZpjilng.BQatiof^pj«?i[s_gran^^
variance to Freepdrt builders Fred and Joseph Scalamandre for a varf^
lance to permit construction of 61 apartment units at thesite of the old
Casino Apartment and Pools, a former Village landmark and present
Teye-sore will be soon torn down. The old apartments, on Casino Street,
which have been the scene of several fires, much vandalism and is
reported-to be, rat-infested'will
.COMING DOWN. . With approval now granted from the Freeport
-:—-—Zoning-Board of Appttalft for luxury aiartmBntsTnrttiffrUa ot thB old"
, Casino Apartments and Pool, the boarded up village eye-sore will be
. torn down within the next ten'days. The property.has been the scene
.of much vandalism, several fires and was reported rat-infestedi The
'. '' 60-unit'(p(us penthouseVapartment dwelling will be four stories high,
~^——extehstvei/ianascalpea ancrthrubbed andJjava parking for fC9 vehicles.
be tormlown. starting, according
to Fred Scalamandre, within the
next ten days. Anti-rat infesta­tion
measures have already been
of Casino Street and the buildings
to be erected to conform substan­tially
with the plans submitted.
Parking for 89 vehicles will be
lakcn-andr«»«»n-a»Hhc^«rilders—pnmdedr-some-oHvhith-may-be-receive
receive ffiinnaall cclleeaarraannccee ffrroom tthhee in continguous to
authorities that it is safe and pru-
.dent _to begin demolishing tlie
.„ structureSv'actBJil^Drk will begin.
^Zoning Board of Appeals, granted
part on property contingu
the parcel and dedicated for such
use.
-Thebuilder agreed to plantings
of. shrubbery, for beautification
^flTnjM?aniig:purif«sesrat-icaxt-
»&:
r - J : - r - ••-r'."'—, ' f ^V&idtOfHnaa'r: v^ ... •-;..-:^--^^ . -...:>:> *^'' Th %Hftf RiidOHf' " ^huilrt hnifsino th«
On Monday evening, the Freeport y^^^ in tie
absence of Trustees Dorothy Storm and Thomas Loyelidge, to investi­gate
the possibility of challenging recent certiorari adions which have
led to several property ,devaluatio.ns. With Increasing frequency, the
Nassau County Board of Assessors has reassessed business properties
at. reduced values, an action "
which, the.hoard^members feel, .
shifts the tax burden to home-owtiers.""
''. "' -"~~- •^-.-~;-.; • : .---.
The law firm of. Shea and
McGouId was retained to Handle .
. the . certiorari, matters for-the.
village. They will be authorized
' to investigate a maximum often *
of the cases liow being considered
by the bpard of appeal. at a cosit of
SlQOtoSlSOacase.
PR Agency Terminated
Board approval was given to
action taken by Mayor Williani
. Wfrite in cancelling a contract
between the village and-Poor
Richard - Associates, a public
relations agency which had been
hired to advertise and promote
, Freeport's Community Develop­ment
program in an effort to
attract business to the village.
Acting on the recommendation
of James Dunne, director of
.Community Development, arid
. Thomas DeVincenzq, village
clerk, the board terminated the.
• contract on the grounds of alleg'ed
violations of the", agreement.
Poor Richard Associates "con-sistently
violated any understand­ing
they had" with village
officials, stated White.
'According'to DeVincenzo, the
.firm had contracted for services
ar costs greater than the budget
allowed. In all. through their
actions, thef village became re-
___sponsibre Tor 517.000 worth of
payments, of wfJiaJrapproilnuiK-
-- ^ ly SS.^OQChhas been paid.
MaDMattcrs
In other action related to Com­munity
Development matters,
the board voted to exchange
portionsofproperty with Carmen
Monaco, owner of Monaco
Fashions on South Main Street.
Both lots are in the area of the
newly cleared walkway between
ParkingFieldrSll and the Maiti
Street shopping,ansa, .The. exj
change will allow Monaco to con­struct
window Ironts, and possi­bly,
a store entrance, facing the ^^
new walkway; the village will be ^
able to construct .a. planned'
shopper plaza.
>' Land To Be Sold .
Five parcels of village-owned;
land in the industrial park area
will be offered for sale through •
the Town of Hempstead Local
Development '- .Corporation, .
an agency established under the
New York State Job Development
Act. The lots, at the set price of
$2.0^ a square foot, would bring
S866.300 to the village treasury,
as well asfuture tax revenues.
"The people being consider­ed,"
explained White, "are exist­ing
industriar users in the park."
^Purchases must be accompanied
by an agreement from the owner
that the property be "developed
according to our specifications,"
stated Whjte. The board moved
. to offer four of the parcels, im­mediately,
and. is awaiting a
communication from Supt. of
Electric Utilities Ludovic Long
concerning his' department's
possible need for a portion of the
fifth lot before offering it.
A recent assessment of the
vacant Hose No. 3 firehouse on
Bayview Avenue placed the value
—of the property at 535.000. Board
.action authorized the mayor to
propose to Christopher Mafucci
a sale at that price. Mafucci
owns a. lot adjoining the pro­perty,
and has indicated an
interest in acquiring the firehouse
andland..
White noted that the board
(Cont.onPagelD*
FREEPORT - At la meeting
Monday night, to which members
of the press and former trustees
of the Freeport Board "of. Educa­tion
were invited, the Board of
Directors.of the Freeport Cham­ber
of Commerce' voted to form a
committee to.look at a line-by­line
copy of the present school
district budget, go over it with the
present'school board, make re- .
cotnmeiidations and bring sug­gestions
and "proposed- changes '
back to. the directors.., The
Chamber meeting was in reaction
to a recent second defeat of the
budget, which would place the
schools on austerity uiJess ano­ther
b.udgetpro'ppsd is submitted "
- and approved by the voters.
The committee will be compos­ed
of Chamber members Richard
Pilatsky," Roy Caociatore. Fred
Scalamandre, Dora Phillips and
Mario Blanco; former school
board members Charles Hayes,
Tom Moore, Seymour Gross and
Roy Gocklcy; and resident Alan
Jay, who frequently writes on
school board matters. The com­mittee
win be chaired by Cham­ber
president Butch Khanamiri-an.
Sterling Keyes,, another
former school board member, ex­plained
that he couUnot serve on
the committee du£ to his posi-;
tion with the State Department of
Education, but would act as a
consultant. Jomer Rand, presi-
- dent of the recently formed Free-port—
Taxpayers .-Association,
which campaigned actively for the
• budget's defeat, also declined to
serve, explaining that the Cham­ber,
by its actions, was-'-actually
condoning what We want to stay
away from ...having a back door
dealing with the Board of Educa­tion."
He went on to slate
that the school board had done
neither of the two things he had
called for: submitted a line-by-
(Cont.onPage 12)
the variance stating that the pro-the
subject
VftriarTces' to- •
build housing Units thereoii which
had been granted based; otv evl-"
dence, submitted..;in ^Hor hear­ings.
*' Noting that the previous
applicant had not obtained re^
quired financial backing for-the
project and therefore did not per­form
the conditions in the earlier
variance, the. application .for the
four story, 60 unit (plus pent-
. house) complex .was granted.
, The earlier application had
been for a lower building with
fewer apartments, but the Scala-mandres
had asked for approval,
of their plans as feeing the only
way the building could economi­cally
be feasible.-
- Several conditions were attach­ed
to the granting of the variance,
including the grade level of the lot
to be raised three feet above that
six.:feet Iilgh>h:>UHa flU naikUn^
areas, which;.,will be constantly
• The apartments will be limited
to one family use and bulkhead
and dock facilities,'for not less
than 25 vessels, will be included
"which may be .used solely by the
occupants of the apartments.
An'area for walking dogs, cats
or other pets and animals will be
provided by the builder in order
to maintain maximum sanitary
conditions in the neighborhood.
The ZBA first asked for a "no ani­mal
clause" in all leases, but-
Fred Scalamandre explained that
many people who wish to move to
- apartment units have fuUy-grovm
childreri. and perhaps live alone,
with a small pet their only compa­nionship.
The hearing oh the
- variance was held at last month's
ZBA meeting, at which time rep-
(Cont.onPage3)
STUDYING A NEW LOOK, Waller Qreen (r.), owner of Carol Green's
shows Mayor William While the plans for the work currently underway
. In his shop througtrthWiliage's-Gommuntty-Development-pfOcramf-
The store, located on South Main Street, is one.of several whose rear
portions will be eliminated to provide expanded parking in (he Church
and Henry Streets municipal lots as well as sitting areas. Green's
which Is operating folly during the remodeling, will have a showcase
and entrance onto the pedestrian walkway connecting the Church
Street lot to the shopping mall. Work on the parking lots and a per-
.manenl walkway will begin shortly, with the mall scheduled for com­pletion
by December of next year. ; J