Today, although the Court recognized the Village of Floral Park’s “legitimate concerns” with the scope of the Belmont Project and the Belmont Project’s impact on the Village’s residents, the Court determined that it may not “substitute its judgment “ for the judgment of the Empire State Development Corp. (ESD).
Of course, we are disappointed with the Judge’s conclusion and believe ESD’s failure to require meaningful mitigation of the very obvious and significant negative impacts that the Belmont Project poses to the surrounding communities warrants that this project needs to be re-evaluated and scaled back.
While we still believe that the development of a shopping mall at this time is ill conceived, we will continue to monitor the development of the project as it moves forward and work tirelessly to ensure any effects on our quality of life are minimized to the greatest extent possible.