(Editor's Note: The following is a statement presented by William Slattery during the board of trustees meeting Monday, April 7. It is being printed below at the author's request.)

Good evening Mayor Bee and Trustees, in a recent letter to you, we expressed our concern about the lack of financial benefits that the Village of Garden City and its residents will receive from the proposed AvalonBay development at St. Paul's. A $1 million "upfront" payment seems insignificant when homes in the surrounding area, on plots of less than an acre, are valued higher than $1 million.

Furthermore, when one considers the millions of dollars in annual rental income that this project will generate, it is clear that we should be receiving higher ground lease payments than the $200,000 previously discussed.

As residents of this village, we rely on our trustees to ensure that we are equally well compensated for allowing AvalonBay to redevelop a $40 million property that we own.

It has been stated in the press and at numerous public outreach sessions that AvalonBay is accepting a large risk by redeveloping the St. Paul's property. However, as more details on this project emerge, we are finding this harder and harder to believe.

For AvalonBay, the financial risk is being mitigated by tax abatements as well as real estate and sales tax exemptions. This is a huge benefit to AvalonBay, since they will be able to recoup their construction costs tax-free. As a "real estate investment trust" they will also be able to sell the approximately $8 million in historic preservation tax credits that they are seeking. The construction risk will be mitigated by the experience AvalonBay has gained in redeveloping the prototype for this project-Avalon Danvers in Danvers MA. The home rule legislation risk will most likely be addressed through real estate consultant Karen Backus. She states in her professional resume that her company has "extensive experience inside government" and can "secure land use and other governmental approvals."

However, the risks assumed by the residents of Garden City are considerable and are not being addressed by the trustees. The tax impact risk is tremendous. As stated in our letter, "A high density development of this size will certainly require extra police, fire/emergency and sanitation personnel, which would mean more salaries and benefit payments. It will require extra water, sewage and sanitation capacity, which must be provided for. It will also increase the number of students in our schools (at approximately $15,000 per student). This will certainly cause an increase in our taxes.

The traffic impact risk is measured by the number of cars that will be exiting and entering the residential complex each day. Due to the extremely high volume of traffic that already exists on the roads and intersection surrounding this project, cars exiting and entering the complex will complicate matters further, by making left turns or driving through residential streets after making right turns. We will have absolutely no control over this situation as it develops.

The parking impact risk is enormous. Every weekend the parking lots at St. Paul's are filled to capacity. The need for parking further increases during community events such as "Soccerfest," the "Jay Gallagher Tournament" and the "Turkey Trot." As stated in our letter, AvalonBay guarantees parking for one resident car. The location of this residential development will almost certainly necessitate two cars per apartment. How can we be assured that the proposed underground parking garage will accommodate all resident cars as well as those of employees and visitors?

The aesthetic risk is also to be considered. We would be paying a lot of money to save a building which most of us have never entered, and will most likely never have the opportunity to enter. Four-story townhouses will obscure the view of large portions of the exterior and additional parking requirements may turn the entire front (on Stewart Avenue) into a parking lot. Community space on the first floor has been eliminated and now we are not even sure the chapel can be saved and made available to residents.

Garden City residents will have no recourse if these issues are not resolved before this complex is built. We are relying on our elected Trustees, who represent us under the Community Agreement, to address and resolve these risks on our behalf. We would like to hear from them how the AvalonBay project will benefit the residents financially, and ease our tax burden.

The outreach sessions, which AvalonBay is required to conduct under the Memorandum of Understanding, have not sufficiently addressed any of the risks to village residents. We are only told about the risks to AvalonBay and their qualifications for this project. Yet we know... that they would not be interested in the preservation of St. Paul's if it were not one of the conditions for receiving HIDA tax exemptions. They, like any developer, would prefer to do new construction since it is more cost effective.

It is time to step back, and take another look at this proposed development project, before the time runs out on our ability to do so. As a village, we have already considered many possibilities for St. Paul's; threshold use, public use, assisted living, condos and now, rentals. Each proposal requires enormous subsidies, either directly or indirectly through our taxes. Maybe we had to go through this long and arduous process to come to the conclusion that this building, like the old Yankee Stadium, cannot be saved.

In many ways, replacing this building with parkland for public use might be a more appropriate memorial to A.T. Stewart than high-density rental housing.

We respectfully ask the trustees to address these issues and then give the village residents a binding opportunity to vote yes or no on the AvalonBay proposal.

William Slattery