At the town of North Hempstead meeting on June 8, an amendment to the town's zoning law passed by a four to one margin, with Councilman James O'Connor as the lone dissenting vote.

The amendments, which outlined specific policy regarding senior citizen housing in the town, had been discussed already in three previous meetings. This, as well as the full agenda and malfunctioning air conditioning, prompted Supervisor May Newburger to limit public debate on the topic.

One of the most contentious issues was parking. Jim McCue, president of the New Hyde Park Civic Association, expressed concern that because of landbanked parking, which allows the developer of a property to allocate land for parking to be developed at a later date, apartment complexes could cause apartments to encrouch upon residential districts. He also stated that the parking requirements for senior housing are too high and could exacerbate existing parking problems, a sentiment echoed by Mike Parcells, a representative for Sunrise Assisted Living which currently owns two facilities in North Hempstead and has six in development.

After public debate was closed, the council voted to approve a text move regarding Multiple Dwellings, and then voted on the resolution itself.

Before O'Connor voted nay to the resolution, he gave a detailed speech outlining his opposition to the plan. During the speech, he outlined five points which he felt were not properly addressed by the amendment.

One of O'Connor's major problems with the amendment was the elimination of affordable senior housing. According to O'Connor, "The existing Golden Age Residence district, which allowed senior citizen housing on lots of 20,000 square feet is being eliminated. From this day forward, senior citizen housing in the town of North Hempstead will only be allowed on lots of 40,000 square feet or greater." This would in turn lead to a rise in the cost of land for senior citizens.

To illustrate his point, O'Connor pointed to an article in the May 20 issue of the Port Washington News which referred to the senior housing at Morewood, which was originally intended to be affordable senior housing. Instead, said O'Connor, the units will now sell as luxury homes.

Supervisor Newburger, who finished out the voting after O'Connor by voting aye, criticized O'Connor for not bringing his misgivings to the board sooner.

Speaker to O'Connor, Newburger said, "You made some points that are extremely pertinent, but I don't understand why you didn't make them during the discussion?"

All other council members approved the resolution, although Councilman Angelo Ferraro expressed his belief that the resolution was not perfect.