Plans to open a Home Depot in Nassau Mall are at a standstill presently as the Town of Hempstead Conservation and Waterways Department does an environmental impact study on the area.

The Town of Hempstead has received an outpouring of letters from residents expressing concerns over the plans to open a Home Depot in Levittown, abutting the property of an Island Trees elementary school and a residential neighborhood. The Conservation and Waterways Department has received an application for the site and has begun an environmental impact study which will consider issues such as noise, vibration, traffic, air quality, pesticides and herbicides, and significant public controversy. After looking at these issues Conservation and Waterways will make their report in the form of a resolution. According to Town Councilwoman Linda Reed, this resolution is a positive or negative declaration of impact upon the environment.

Once the resolution has been made by Conservation and Waterways Home Depot's application and the report by Conservation and Waterways will go before the Board of Zoning Appeals for acceptance. Once they accept the report, assuming that there is an impact on the environment, then Home Depot, at their own expense, has to perform a long environmental impact study that will address all the issues raised in the Department of Conservation and Waterway's report. The Board of Zoning Appeals is currently waiting for the report from the Conservation and Waterways Department.

In addressing the issues raised by the report, assuming that it finds that there is an environmental impact, Home Depot will have to bring in engineers, traffic study people, and quality control people to deal with any possible issues raised. According to Reed, "It is a very long process." Once they have addressed all these issues their environmental impact study goes back to Conservation and Waterways for a further review. They have to make sure that everything that was in their report was addressed by Home Depot. If they don't agree with everything in the report then they will look further into the issues not settled to their satisfaction. If they accept Home Depot's report then the case will go before the Board of Zoning Appeals.

Once all the reports have been filed and accepted then they become a matter of public record and anyone can look at the reports. It then goes before the Board of Zoning Appeals in a public hearing, at which time the public can express their concerns to the board. The letters received by the town will also be attached to the reports for the board's consideration. Following a review of the reports and its attachments and the public hearing the Board of Zoning Appeals will make a ruling on the case.

Early on in Home Depot's planning they expected the case to go before the Board of Zoning Appeals in late September, early October. They did not count on the public outcry that the situation has raised. Now, because of this outcry the report will take longer and it will be quite a while before the case reaches the board. According to Reed, as of right now it is not even on the Board of Zoning Appeals calendar and Home Depot cannot move in until everything has been settled.