(Editor's Note: The following letter was addressed to Town of Hempstead Supervisor Richard V. Guardino, Jr. and copies were sent to the Town's Zoning Board of Appeals, the Town Council members, Legislators Bruce Blakeman and Vincent Muscarella, Paul Ponessa of the County Planning Commission, the Village Board of Trustees, and the Village's attorney Gerard Fishberg. It is printed here at the author's request.)

Effective April 29, 1989 the Town Board rezoned the MFO, MFO-I, MFO-II, LM and Y Industrial Districts to establish a .4 FAR in those Districts. This proposal was, in the words of then Presiding Supervisor Joseph M. Mondello at the March 14, 1989 Town Board Meeting, "designed to strike a better balance between economic growth and the preservation of our Town's precious natural environment." In addition, Mr. Mondello stated that "this floor area ratio will provide essential building controls designed to insulate our township of the dangers of over-development and over-saturation." Mr. Mondello went on to say that "our Town's future growth must be closely governmentally controlled."

Effective August 5, 1989, the LM and Y Industrial Districts were again amended to allow an FAR in excess of .4 with a special permit from the Town's Zoning Board of Appeals.

The intention of the April 1989 rezoning has been completely disregarded in Roosevelt Field by the subsequent special permits granted by the Town's Zoning Board of Appeals, which in 1995 permitted an increase in FAR to .69, which is 72.5 percent higher than .4. Currently, there is an application before the Town's Zoning Board of Appeals which would increase Roosevelt Field's FAR to .75, which would be an 87.5 percent increase in the permitted FAR of .4.

Such increases make a mockery of the Town's April 1989 zoning amendment. In addition, the Nassau County Comprehensive Plan and the HUB Study are particularly concerned with development of the area around Roosevelt Field. It would appear extremely imprudent for the Town to permit any additions to the current FAR by way of new zoning, variances or special use permits. The Town should immediately impose a moratorium on the issuance of building permits for any construction in the LM and Y Industrial Districts which does not comply with the .4 FAR until a comprehensive review of these zoning districts can be conducted.

Frank A. Tauches, Jr.

Mayor of Garden City