Bookspan, formerly known as Doubleday, presented plans for the work on their third building, 501 Franklin Avenue, at the Village Trustee meeting last Thursday night, when the board was set to render a decision whether or not the site plans for the building would receive final approval. Although residents were pleased with the way Bookspan intended to refurbish the site, several residents expressed concern about how the approximately 400 employees who would be working at this building would impact the traffic on the side streets in that area.

In addition to improvements on the building itself, Bookspan representatives spoke about how the area would be landscaped in a way which would substantially improve the look of the area.

Following the presentation, Garden City Mayor Harold Hecken stated, "We are so pleased that you're going to make it a beautiful spot again." This plan was first brought before the board four years ago and Hecken commented on how good the changes from the original plan look.

Trustee Bruce Torino commented that Bookspan's predecessor, Doubleday, had been a good neighbor and added that his role, as trustee was to promote understanding between Bookspan and the village. In an effort to do so, Torino brought up some questions that he has heard from area residents. He questioned the traffic impact on Franklin Avenue and Chestnut Street, where the 501 building is located. He said that he has also heard fear expressed from people on nearby streets such as 4th Street and Cedar Place. "What do you perceive to be the density and flow patterns of the traffic?" questioned Torino.

Bill Gatty, of Bookspan, responded to these question by going back into the history of the site. He noted that in the past, workers were hourly workers, where everyone came and left at a specific time. Many of these workers, said Gatty, came from the southern state corridor. At that time only about 30 percent of the employees in that building were professional staff. Now, said Gatty, 80 percent of those who will be working at the building will be professional staff, many of whom are from the north shore area, the city, or even Westchester. The time that these employees come and go varies, with people arriving starting at 6:30 a.m. and employees leaving anytime from 4:30-9:30 p.m. Gatty noted that this would prevent the typical "rush-hour" traffic. He also noted that from studies they have done in their other two buildings, they have found that many of the employees either carpool of use public transportation because there are never as many cars in the lot as there are employees in the building. For the most part, he said, the employees would be exiting on Franklin Avenue and Chestnut Street.

Trustee Dr. Barbara Miller asked for a clarification on where the entrances and exits would be. Gatty explained that there are four exits onto Franklin and one on Chestnut.

Kevin McAndrew, a representative from Cameron Engineering, site engineers for Bookspan, echoed Gatty's sentiments about the distribution of traffic and explained that the hours when the largest number of cars would be traveling is not at the same times as St. Joseph's School either starts or lets out. He noted that the village's planning commission, in sensitivity to the neighbors asked that there be no through movement permitted from the driveway opposite 5th Street as well as the driveway opposite 4th Street, so that any vehicles exiting the Bookspan campus would have to proceed either northbound or southbound on Franklin Avenue, prohibiting any through movements to the cross-streets on the west side of Franklin. "We expect a very efficient operation and one which will not have any adverse impact on the community," concluded McAndrews.

Daria Roulette, a resident of Cedar Place, commented on the fact that Cedar Place is approximately half the width of the other streets in that area and noted that there are approximately 43 children under the age of 12 who live on the one block that makes up Cedar Place. She said that many parents are concerned that the lives and safety of the children on this block will be put in jeopardy because the employees from Bookspan will be going down this street, without regard for these children.

Michael Filippon, superintendent of building for the village, said a traffic study was done in the past and the conclusion was that all the traffic impacts have been addressed.

Eileen Murphy, a resident of Chestnut Street noted that in the last eight years since Doubleday stopped using that building, nearly three quarters of the houses have become occupied by new residents who have never experienced what it is like to have a business such as this in operation in this area. She said that it is important for these residents to be made aware that the occupancy of this building, which has been abandoned for the last eight years, will enhance the neighborhood and increase property values.

Mary Margaret Carroll, a resident of Cedar Place, pointed out that though there may only be approximately 320 cars at the 501 building, there are currently approximately 360 at the other Bookspan sites, thus making the total 680 cars impacting the traffic per day. She requested that Gatty circulate a memo to Bookspan employees requesting that they adhere to the signs saying not to cross Franklin onto Cedar.

Trustee John Mauk commended Bookspan on the work they are doing on the building and questioned whether or not they would be willing to have another traffic study done to ease the minds of the neighbors.

Gatty responded that though they would be willing to have another traffic study done, he would strongly object to having this project further delayed by having to wait for the traffic study before getting the final site plan approvals because they would like to be able to occupy the building in 2001.

Hecken said that he doesn't think that a traffic study would give the answers being sought but that the traffic commission can look into the situation further.

Trustee Peter Bee, chairman of the traffic commission, noted that major segments of the community have been pursuing the goal of revitalizing Franklin Avenue and have for many years looked at the Doubleday building and looked forward to the day when it would be revitalized and repopulated. He stated that no matter what business or site plan would be approved, it would mean an increase in traffic. He said it was up to the village to control and regulate that traffic. He explained that this will be a question of police response, of traffic commission dealing with signage and speed and control and will be a question of working with the county if there are issues of traffic signals. He said that these problems cannot be solved in a site plan approval process and that he would rather see this building populated and in use and deal with the natural traffic consequences as they arise.

The site plan application was unanimously approved by the village board.