The Hicksville Gardens Civic Association's Oct. 28 meeting was standing room only as residents attended to voice their opposition to a proposal to construct a "lodging" place at 594 South Broadway at Gerald Avenue - the site of the former T.J. Courtney's restaurant. Some 440 residents attended the meeting while more than 100 were turned away due to limited capacity in the library's community room.

Last week's meeting followed an Oct. 14 meeting in which members of the civic association's executive board and block captains from the area met with property owner Darshan S. Bagga, his architect from DiGiovanni Associates in Sea Cliff and planning consultant Gary Pappas, as well as Town of Oyster Bay representative Tim Zike. It was after this meeting that civic representatives were under the impression that Bagga was looking to construct a facility for use as "transitional" housing for immigrant families.

According to Pappas, that is not the case. "I have no idea where that came from," Pappas said during a telephone interview with the Hicksville Illustrated News. "Mr. Bagga met with the architect and some of the people from the civic association, and I do not know where they got the impression that it would have anything to do with transitional housing for immigrants. Mr. Bagga's confused, I'm confused."

In a letter sent to the civic association, Bagga stated that the "reference to transitional housing for immigrant families has me totally baffled ... "

Frank Goban, a member of the civic association's executive board who attended the Oct. 14 meeting, disagreed, saying, "We all heard the same thing. Maybe [Mr. Bagga] did not mean to put it that way, that [there is a need to find] some sort of place for these people to be able to transition. I don't think he meant to come off that way, but unfortunately, that is what [Mr. Bagga] said."

According to Marie Grebe, a parent and 9th Street homeowner, a hotel for extended stay families would also have a negative effect on the school district and taxpayers.

"It's already October and there already are two or three new students in my children's classes at Lee Avenue," she said. "My fear is that families [who would stay at the hotel] would be overbearing for the school. They would surely send their children to Lee Avenue and would not be paying individual school taxes. That would force us to reopen schools or add classrooms onto Lee Avenue, which would then cause our taxes to go up."

In its current form, the application, which was filed with the Oyster Bay Town Board in August, requests a special use permit to construct a 39,205-square-foot, two-story nationally franchised lodging place on a little over an acre. The facility would include 44 guest rooms - 20 which would be one-and two-bedroom suites with small kitchenettes and 24 which would be standard rooms. In addition, it would include a small kitchen/ pantry area to serve a continental-style breakfast, buffet lunch and dinner as well as a restaurant, computer room, exercise room, indoor pool with hot tub, gift shop and meeting room, all of which would be available to guests only.

According to Goban, there is no reason for a regular business hotel to need kitchen facilities. "Why, in a business hotel, where you are staying one day, two days or, at the most, three days, would you need kitchen facilities?" Goban asked.

As a result of the meeting, the civic association is still discussing among its membership the issue of the future development of the property. The Hicksville Gardens Civic Association issued the following statement:

"Some of our membership was turned away from the meeting due to overcrowding and therefore we have not had a membership discussion on the issue. However, our discussions will always be with a view toward representing the best interests of our membership and the surrounding Hicksville community while respecting the rights of the property owner to develop its property in harmony with the needs of the residents of Hicksville."

While residents would like nothing better than to see something done with the vacant property, which has become an eyesore and site of illegal dumping over the years, most who attended last Thursday's meeting were not in favor of a hotel or motel of any nature.

As a taxpayer and resident of Hicksville for 50 years, Goban said he is personally opposed to a hotel. "We do not need it. There are already two hotels in the immediate vicinity and not enough business activity. Routes 106/107 are not major arteries between two cities; they are small arteries which run through the center of Long Island with local traffic," he said. "If this was a major industrial area, if Grumman was still in operation I could see the need, but most business people do not take their families on business with them. It just doesn't happen. Where is [Mr. Bagga] going to pick up his extended business clientele?"

Grebe added, "There are already a couple of hotels in Hicksville and we don't need another."

When informed that residents feel Hicksville has enough hotels and that the community itself does not generate enough need for another one, Pappas said, "I guess so. But when they say enough hotels I don't think there is an operation like a Holiday Inn there. It is something that really doesn't exist in the area and would be a plus."

According to Pappas, Bagga is currently seeking a franchisee for the site and is in "serious negotiations" with Holiday Inn and Comfort Inn. "[Mr. Bagga] is not going to put something up somewhere if he doesn't feel it is going to be profitable. And if Holiday Inn or Comfort Inn are interested, they do their own marketing studies and determine if there is a need."

In his letter to the civic, Bagga stated, "My experience indicates that the Hicksville location is perfectly suited to attract professionals visiting the area for two or three day business trips as well as to meet the needs of small professional families..."

To some residents, however, the proposed application is yet another attempt to dump something negative on the Hicksville community. "It's about time we stuck up for this community. For too many years, Hicksville has been the dumping ground for the Town of Oyster Bay," said Goban. "Let them build it on Audrey Avenue in Oyster Bay. We are tired of getting the short end of the stick."

To alleviate concerns, Pappas said he hopes Bagga, the architect and himself will be able to meet with residents in the upcoming weeks. "We would like to meet with them and try to address their concerns," he said. "If need be, we can discuss alternative uses for the site. I just don't know just how opposed the community would be to a Holiday Inn-type operation."

According to town officials, the application is currently being reviewed by the Town of Oyster Bay's Department of Planning and Development and the Department of Environmental Resources. In addition to a special use permit, Bagga also needs site plan approval from the town. Before the application is voted on, a public town board meeting will be held. No date is set as of press time, but it would most likely be in early 2005.