The coalition group leading the 13-year fight against the proposed mega-mall on the former Cerro Wire property in Syosset recently expressed outrage after they said legal briefs submitted by the developer, the Taubman Company, had discrepancies in the size of the proposed mall.

The Taubman Company originally submitted plans for an 860,000 square foot mall and later said the size could be reduced to 750,000 square feet. The case is still currently in the hands of the Supreme Court of the State of New York Appellate Division: Second Judicial Department.

The Cerro Wire Coalition, a group representing more than 40,000 Town of Oyster Bay homeowners and 6,000 small business owners opposed to the proposed mall, said that in the most recent court papers, Taubman indicated that the reduced 750,000 square-foot mall is based on gross leaseable area (GLA), which refers to the actual amount of retail store space as opposed to gross floor area (GFA), which represents the total square footage of the entire building structure. In reality, the Coalition said, Taubman does not intend to reduce the actual size of the mall but rather the retail space of some of the stores. The overall mall structure, according to Taubman's court papers, will actually increase in size.

"This latest attempt by the Taubman Company is the height of deception and arrogance," said Todd Fabricant, chairman of the Cerro Wire Coalition. "Trying to sneak this through as part of the court process is not only a cowardly act but has to be one of the most contemptuous bait and switch scams of all time."

Fabricant indicated that this latest turn of events runs contrary to Taubman's original offer to downsize the mall in 2001 just before the Oyster Bay Town Board voted to turn down the mall application.

"An entire wing of legal archives will be needed for the number of defeats suffered by opponents of this development proposal and now that they have run out of facts they are using fiction to try and obscure what has been proposed," said a spokesperson for the Taubman Company. "Taubman is not reducing the footprint (the Gross Floor Area "GFA") of the mall. The '860,000 sq. ft. mall' would have had 860,000 Gross Leasable Area (GLA) and a GFA footprinting larger than 860,000 sq. ft. The '750,000 sq. ft. mall' will have 750,000 sq. ft. GLA. The same GFA footprint will remain unchanged."

Fabricant said, "Back then, Taubman's eleventh-hour offer to reduce the mall to 750,000 square feet was clearly based on GFA not GLA. "Since then, they have attempted at every available opportunity to promote their willingness to make the mall smaller as a genuine gesture of good faith. Now, they change course and try to pull this stunt in a blatant attempt to fool the Town, the community and the court. It is abundantly clear that Taubman has always wanted a bigger mall. If the courts allow the mall to be built, no matter what size, Taubman will constantly seek to expand and make the mall larger and larger."

According to Taubman, the shopping center industry always refers to the GLA, not the GFA, in identifying the size of a mall. "Similarly, the Town zoning code expressly provides that the calculation for required parking spaces (i.e., traffic generation) is not GFA, but GFA minus the non-GLA space," said Taubman's spokesperson. "This is consistent with the practice of traffic engineers and their calculation of traffic generation. Opponents know this but have chosen a strategy that purposefully seeks to disregard the facts."

Fabricant said that the town and the community is addressing Taubman's "latest charade."

"We have the utmost confidence that the lawyers representing us and the Town will present the proper arguments in response to this matter as well as the overall legal proceedings," Fabricant said. "More importantly, we expect to ultimately prevail in court and stop the mall for good. For now, it's important that the community knows the true character of the way this developer operates and conducts its affairs. Even with the current economic climate, this is not the kind of business we want in this town and it's further proof that they cannot ever be trusted."