Mayor’s Messages Old

As reported at the last Village Board meeting, Centennial Holdings, LLC (Centennial Holdings), the owner of the former Centennial Hall property at 1 Carnation Avenue, received the Nassau County approvals required in order for the Village to issue the building permits. This development is for 24 one-and two-bedroom market rate apartments. We look forward to this project getting under way and, most importantly, we look forward to its completion which will be a positive addition to the Village for years to come. Several weeks ago, the Village was informed that Centennial Holdings would seek financing for this project through the Town of Hempstead Industrial Development Agency (IDA). Financing through the Town of Hempstead IDA grants the owner relief from sales taxes and always involves Payments-in-Lieu-of Taxes (PILOTs) in place of the payments of real property taxes by the owner. There is limited ability by local governments within these laws, such as the Village, to oppose granting tax benefits by the Town of Hempstead to the property owner. Nonetheless, the Village Board, administration and the special counsel that the Village hired for this matter (Spellman Gibbons Pollizi Truncale & Trentacoste, LLP) worked extremely diligently during the last several weeks to secure ...

Dear Residents, Construction on the new UBS Arena at Belmont Park is moving ahead quickly and on schedule to be completed in late November. Hockey games, concerts and other events are already scheduled to take place at the new arena in the near future. For the past two years, including a number of recent requests this past spring and summer, the Village has proposed to the New York Empire State Development Corporation (“ESD”) a series of proposals designed to mitigate the impact of this project on the surrounding community. Included among the Village’s proposals is a plan to preserve a small portion of space just east of Belmont Park’s North Lot (East of Belmont Park Road) as open space to serve as a buffer for the adjoining residents. This is not a large parcel of land. But for many decades it has served as an open space buffer and has been an important quality of life safeguard for the Floral Park-Bellerose School and nearby residents. Preserving this area as unpaved and tree-filled is all the more important as use of the North Lot is expected to increase significantly once the new arena begins to host Islander games and other events ...

The Village of Floral Park is implementing outdoor dining plans to support our local restaurants as they are gradually allowed to re-open. This plan is evolving as we receive guidance from the State as to what is permitted moving forward. For those restaurants that have their own private space upon which they can locate tables and chairs, this past week the Village Building Department issued regulations for such restaurants to be granted temporary permission to have seating for outdoor dining on their own property. Several restaurants in the Village have already applied for and received the approval from the Village Building Department for this outdoor seating. However, most restaurants in the Village do not have their own private space for outdoor dining. Also, all restaurants, including those with their own outdoor space, will be subject to strict limitations as to the number of people allowed to dine indoors once that is permitted (Phase 3 of State plan). To address this and to help our local restaurants remain viable, the Village will be temporarily permitting outdoor dining in certain sections of the Village’s parking lots (Woodbine Court Lot, Violet Avenue Lot and Spooner Street Lot) and the Village right of way ...

I am happy to notify you that Governor Cuomo has granted the Village of Floral Park’s request to extend the interest free period for the payment of Village property taxes by 21 days. Under New York State law, the Village has no authority to extend the interest free payment period on its own; however, during “a state disaster emergency” a village may request an extension of up to 21 days. Today we were informed that our extension request was granted by the Governor.Consequently, property owners now have until July 22, 2020 to pay your village real property taxes without incurring the state mandated penalty interest, as opposed to the July 1st deadline that was in effect until the Governor granted the Village’s request. Additionally, to alleviate some of the stress on taxpayers, the Village Board passed a resolution on April 21, 2020 allowing for the payment of Village property taxes in two installments, for this year only. While this does not affect the amount of village property tax you owe, hopefully it will be easier for some to pay in two installments, rather than one large lump sum payment. The Village Board resolution cannot affect the late payment penalty rate ...

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. Decision in Floral Park’s Article 78 Proceeding ...

Dear Fellow Residents, With the assistance of the New York Islanders, the Village has obtained the following telephone number to be used to report issues, problems and complaints associated with the Belmont Redevelopment Project. This number is: 516-548-3118 This number has been issued for the above purpose and I urge all residents to please contact the number should you experience any issues so those in charge of the Belmont Construction and Project can address any and all issues you raise. It is important that the project team and the construction companies know of any and all issues quickly. Communication is very important as we hope that through the use of this number the issues raised will be positively and expeditiously addressed. In addition, I ask that you contact the Village via email at [email protected] inform us of any calls made to the number and what the nature of those calls was. This will help us advocate on your behalf to get the proper resolution to your concerns. Belmont Help Mail Card Dominick A. LongobardiMayor ...

Belmont Update, November 7, 2019 Today Judge Roy Mahon issued a decision scheduling a return date of December 6th on the Village’s request for a limited preliminary injunction to prevent NYAP from continuing with any “irreversible” work pending the outcome of the Village’s Article 78 Action. However, Judge Mahon declined to grant the Village’s request for a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) pending the determination of the Village’s request for a preliminary injunction. In order to grant the extraordinary relief of a TRO, the Judge would had to have found that the Village is presently suffering “irreparable damages” as a result of the construction. The Village provided evidence that the Village and its residents were presently being injured by the construction work, specifically due to the increase of heavy construction vehicle traffic on Plainfield Avenue and the construction and staging activity taking place right next to the residences on Crocus Avenue and Floral Park Bellerose School playground. The Village explained that these impacts were not addressed during the environmental review process. However, NYAP and ESD were able to remove the immediate harms being suffered, representing to the Court that, as of November 5th, they have undertaken to stop all project related ...

Dear Fellow Resident, As a response to the Village’s challenge under Article 78 to the development project at Belmont, the Empire State Development Corp (“ESD”) and New York Arena Partners (“NYAP”) filed papers with the court to request a dismissal of our challenge. Mr. Michael Murphy, Esq., counsel for the Village at Beveridge & Diamond, was correctly quoted in Newsday as saying the Village “will respond in due course and vigorously defend the Village’s claims and its right to protect its residents and community from the severe impacts this project poses.” I would like to call to our residents’ attention a quote from the aforementioned filings where ESD and NYAP stated that the Village is “an unalterable and steadfast foe of the Belmont Park Redevelopment Project.” This comment is patently not true and extremely disingenuous. Neither I, the Village Board, the Belmont Task Force or our residents, from when the request for proposal was first issued to today have ever stated that we were against development at Belmont Park. We have worked to segregate the New York Islanders from this development project and welcome them to our community. And we have attempted to work with ESD, NYAP and the Governor’s ...

Dear Friends, I want to take this opportunity to address a recent issue regarding the Belmont Redevelopment Plan and subsequent news articles that have appeared in many publications. Since the Village moved forward with the option to file an Article 78 Proceeding regarding the Belmont Redevelopment project, a number of news articles have taken liberty with events that have occurred in an attempt to link them to our actions regarding this filing. While I usually do not comment on such frivolous and obvious politically-motivated actions, I am compelled to single out one incident that in my opinion is completely without merit. Nassau County Executive Laura Curran recently called for an investigation regarding an incident whereby the Nassau County Police Helicopter was used to view the Belmont Park Complex and on-going-construction as part of discussions for a new and improved evacuation plan for our children and staff at the Floral Park- Bellerose Elementary School. The historical and current plan called for our children and staff to evacuate the building through the school yard and through the rear access gates into the North Parking lot of Belmont Park should an incident occur that required evacuation of the building. With the construction already ...