Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi held a bus tour throughout Hicksville on May 14 to discuss ideas for economic development in the community. In doing this, Suozzi plans to collect input from community activists and apply their suggestions and concerns in shaping the future of the community.

The bus tour, which began and ended at the Broadway Mall, provided those community representatives in attendance with an opportunity to point out key areas of concern. The tour made its way around Hicksville, including such areas as Duffy Avenue, West John Street, Broadway, New South Road and Old Country Road.

Among those present for the tour were representatives from the Hicksville Chamber of Commerce, the Hicksville School District, the Gardens Civic Association, Duffy Park Civic Association, NorthWest Civic Association and the Hicksville Community Council, as well the Town of Oyster Bay and Nassau County Legislator Edward Mangano (R-Bethpage).

At the start of the tour, Suozzi said, "Everybody, please feel very free to shout out and say, 'hey look at this, you should know this, they are thinking of doing that there or they did that there.' Just so we know what is happening overall." During the tour, members of Suozzi's team took notes as residents pointed out areas of concern.

John Russo, president of the NorthWest Civic Association, stated that parking at the Hicksville Post Office is a problem. He also pointed out that, despite height restrictions, mounds of stones and rocks at the two asphalt plants off West John Street are beyond the legal limit. Currently there is a proposal to turn one of the plants into a 260-plus unit senior housing complex.

While doing so would eliminate the asphalt problem, residents state moving seniors to such a site, with another asphalt plant next door and the Long Island Rail Road right behind them, is not the way to go. "We are not against seeing senior housing," said Russo. "What we are against is seeing seniors put next to the asphalt plant."

According to Suozzi, the only way to get rid of the plant is to put something there to replace it. "If they make money from [building housing on one of the plants], maybe they will get rid of the other one and put something else there," he said.

As the tour proceeded west on West John, Suozzi mentioned that the county is looking to move its police headquarters into the vacant King Kullen plant on West John Street, located just over the Hicksville border in New Cassel. Nassau County currently owns the property.

While an application to construct a Costco on a vacant lot at the corner of West John and Charlotte Avenue is still being reviewed by the Oyster Bay Town Board, the county executive believes building a retail store in that location would not be a good idea. In addition to increased traffic, it would "be taking retail activity away from the center of town."

Despite the fact that Hicksville has a great deal of commercial property, Suozzi said a major problem is that it is located all over the place, rather than in one centralized, downtown business district. "There is no downtown center in Hicksville," he said. "A lot of people would love to have these major roads going through [their community] and these big malls as anchors to bring people into the area, but the key is how to take these big anchors and these main roads and make it into a cute little downtown. We have to take a look as to where downtown Hicksville should be."

In developing a downtown, Suozzi said attention must be paid in determining where things should go and suggested the community form a Business Improvement District (BID). With a BID, said the county executive, Hicksville's downtown, including the mall, would work together.

"Hicksville is a great place with a lot of great neighborhoods," he said. "What you have to do now is make it all tie together so that its got one kind of Hicksville-theme to it, such as a look and a feel, to build a sense of unity."

Suozzi added that emphasis should be made in focusing Hicksville's downtown around the fork where Route 107 and Route 106 split up past the train station to Old Country Road and back around. "This could be downtown Hicksville," he said.

While the town currently has plans to convert an open lot on Route 107, just north of Old Country Road, into a park/field and construct a community center across the street, Suozzi stated that such land in the heart of Hicksville could be put to much better use.

"You want open space? You want senior housing? You want more development? Where should it be?, You have to figure out which things go where," he said. "They are all good ideas, but sometimes it doesn't make sense to build senior housing in a certain place. Sometimes it doesn't make sense to preserve an open space in another place. You have to figure out where the right place for it all is."

In addition to finding the best location, Suozzi added that it is important to consider how things look. "You've got these beautiful facades [on Route 107] that have this ugly signage all over them," he said. "It looks horrible. You have to figure out how to get some charm back by fixing up some of the traditional facades."

Suozzi's tour, which was followed by an economic development meeting later that day at Hicksville High School, is part of a series being held by the county executive throughout Nassau. To combat the problems individual communities face, as well as to further add to the benefits of living in each community, the county has drafted an Economic Development Plan that outlines broad goals for the future development of the county.

The plan divides Nassau's three towns, two cities and incorporated and unincorporated areas into 35 economic development areas. It also allows Suozzi to meet and then work with the individual communities to create a vision based on what community members would like to see in their neighborhood.

"We are going into each of these 35 communities and identifying some of the key issues that exist, so that I can learn and actually see the things that are important to you," said Suozzi. Similar tours have been held in Garden City, Plainview and Westbury/New Cassel with additional ones planned over the course of the next few months.

The overall goal is to develop a master plan for Nassau County as a whole based on six objectives: encourage high skilled technology business; recycle and revitalize the traditional downtown and commercial business districts; recycle and reuse polluted properties, clean them up and put them back to productive use; build affordable housing for young people and senior citizens; preserve open space; and encourage sports, entertainment and tourism. (A copy of the county's plan can be downloaded by visiting www.nassaucountynydevelopment.org.)

In meeting with members of each targeted area, Suozzi said the county will be able to determine which objectives are most important in each community. "We are looking at the long-term economic growth of Nassau County and what we want this place to look like 50 years from now," said Suozzi. "We need to establish a plan that takes into account the concerns of the community."

According to Suozzi, ideas, plans and concerns included in the Town of Oyster Bay's Vision Plan for Hicksville will also be incorporated into the county's master plan. "Is it going to change overnight? Absolutely not," he said. "The goal is to set up a plan for the long-term future of Hicksville so that it makes sense, fits into the overall plan of the county and ensures that this is a great place to live 50 years from now."