Approximately 40 citizens turned out for a public hearing on Sept. 7 on the Village of Thomaston's proposal to rezone the property on the northeast corner of East Shore Road in Great Neck and Bayview Avenue in Manhasset. Approval of the rezoning would lay the legal foundation to allow for the construction of a senior compound with 226 units comprising 265,000 square feet rising above grade as much as six stories. Most of the speakers were from the Bayview section of Manhasset and everyone who gave testimony vehemently opposed the "mammoth size" of the project and cited environmental, financial, traffic flow and traffic safety, utility overburdening and aesthetic issues. Currently the parcel is zoned for a medical building. The mayor and board took no action at the meeting. The project would generate $250,000 a year for 15 years in tax revenues to Thomaston. In addition the developer would renovate its Village Hall, which is adjacent to the site, expanding it by 1800 square feet. Residents of Thomaston, their parents, siblings and children would be given priority for admission to the facility "to the extent allowed by law."

The senior facility put forth by the developer, Savoy Senior Housing Corporation, would consist of three buildings. In order to comply with the maximum allowable 235,000 square feet for a senior facility, 30,000 would be allotted for "common areas including kitchen and dining facilities, lobbies, administrative offices and the like." One hundred and eighteen units would be designated "independent living units and would consist of 31 one-bedroom apartments and 87 two-bedroom apartments, six stories in height above a two-story parking garage with 145 parking spaces. This building would be L-shaped facing both East Shore Road and Bayview with proposed access from Bayview.

At the Sept. 7 meeting Bernard Rolston of Manhasset spoke about concerns about potential contamination to the nearby active shallow well fields under the jurisdiction of the Manhasset Lakeville Water Authority. Under current law, according to Paul Shrader, superintendent of the Manhasset Lakeville Water Authority, an easement of 100 feet around the shallow well fields is required, but, other than that restriction, the water authority has limits to its authority to regulate properties out of its ownership. He stated that the water district would be able to handle the extra demands and would not be unduly concerned about contamination of the wells since the site would utilize a sewer system for waste disposal. Although Mr. Rolston stated that the MLWD gets 18 percent of its water from this site, MLWD Commissioner Brian Jennings says that the amount is 3.9 percent from the shallow wells and 10.7 percent from the deep well. "We'd be out there fighting if we thought this was a hazard to our water supply," Commissioner Jennings said in an interview with the Manhasset Press.

One speaker, Dan Gross, raised the issue of soil contamination, which had been found several years ago when the property was originally up for sale. A representative from Savoy Senior Housing Corporation, the prospective developer, attested that his company's analysis showed no contamination, but when asked by a reporter, refused to give the name of the firm which did the testing and further refused to give his own name and phone number. It was later learned that this person is Jay Frydman. One speaker reiterated that the Town of North Hempstead had used the site for many years for trucks and heavy equipment before abandoning it.

Andrew Belfer of Hassett Belfer Senior Housing which operates The Mayfair in Great Neck sent a letter dated Sept. 7 for inclusion in the hearing record. He states in the letter that his firm had proposed a 96-unit, 52-foot high building at the same site and that Thomaston had encouraged his firm to reduce the number of units to 80. He says: "The site cannot conceivably support such a massive development which is more than 300 percent greater than that previously proposed."

According to Manhasset resident Marc De Venoge, CPA, this facility, isolated from the services of either Great Neck or Manhasset, with the Long Island Rail Road lumbering over the trestle nearby, would be hard-pressed to compete with similar facilities located in Great Neck and under construction in Little Neck. He said that historically these facilities experience a one-third turnover rate every year. Once of his concerns is that if the project fails, "it could be sold to a bottom feeder that could convert the building to a residential family dwelling or single-room occupancy site."

Neil Begley, president of the Bayview Civic Association, concurred and pointed out that the high number of two-bedroom apartments (87) proposed would make it easier for a developer to "come through the back door" and make such a conversion. Mr. Begley said that if the owner of the property demonstrated a hardship scenario in the future, the Village of Thomaston would have it within its power to grant variances regarding building/space ratios. Further, if the building were converted to apartments, children residing there, even though technically living in Thomaston, would be eligible to attend the Manhasset Schools.

Town of North Hempstead Supervisor May Newburger has expressed herself as solidly against this plan and declared, in a telephone interview: "The size of this proposed project is monstrous." Chief Real Estate Negotiator of Nassau County wrote, as early as May of 1999 to Herman Carlinsky of Savoy: "I have been instructed to advise you that the county administration is not receptive to your developmental plans as they relate to your use of the County Lot 1.5."