Eight years ago, my husband and I moved our family to Manhasset from a well-regarded north Queens neighborhood. Our goal was to raise our children in a great school district, on the Port Washington line. We chose Manhasset because it not only met those qualifications, as do many of the surrounding communities, but because unlike the other communities it truly felt like a smaller-town. We embraced the notion that having cesspools, and all the work that comes with them, was worth it not to have the impersonal and densely populated multi-unit developments that are crowding so many suburban communities.

Now, it is eight years later and sad to say that a developer wishes to set a precedence by building a four-story, 61-unit apartment house, hooked up to Great Neck's sewer system, in Manhasset! This development will be squeezed into a small parcel of land adjacent to a one-family neighborhood. There are many reasons why I see this as problematic:

If the Town of North Hempstead gives the project the "green light," what is to prevent other developments from seeking similar variances and building similar complexes when other parcels are put up for sale in the near future? What could this do to the character of our community and what kind of harm could it cause to our environment? Our water source is only a short distance away, by Community Drive.

The sheer size of the venture that Mr. Puntillo/JOBCO/Gothic Church Properties, LLC, is overwhelming. Although the developer had "experts" state that the addition to the traffic flow would be minimal, given the current congestion on the surrounding roadways during rush hour in particular (Plandome Rd., Onderdonk Ave., Northern Blvd. and George St., as well as the neighboring secondary and very narrow roads in Norgate, North Strathmore and Munsey Park), any addition is going to add to an already intolerable situation. Students from St. Mary's and the secondary school, as well as commuters "walk" these streets to get to and from work and school. Just in the past two years there have been three serious accidents on Onderdonk Avenue - most recently the two involving the use of the library, and one involving a driver who lost control at the intersection with Andrew Road, careening into a house.

As the mother of school-aged children, I am also concerned with the impact "The Heritage," could potentially have on our school district. In Mr. Puntillo's response to concerns about his proposed development, Manhasset Press April 24, he stated that approximately $700,000 in taxes will be generated for the county, town and school district - $240,000 for the county, town and fire district, $450,000 for the school district, with minimal impact on the school district because it would be an adult community, where at least one member is aged 55 or over and no one under the age of 18 would be allowed to reside. He would further like to lead us to believe that it will be a benefit to those older Manhasset residents who want to stay in the neighborhood but don't want the responsibility of homeownership.

Assuming the latter to be the case, though from the first town board meeting it was expressed by most that people from Manhasset leave their homes because of high taxes, not because they can no longer take care of them, then there are a couple of points I would argue are not true. It costs, according to Newsday, $23,162 per year to educate each student that attends our public schools. The average Manhasset family purportedly has 3 children. If less than 10 percent of the homeowners who are to occupy this development sell to families with school-aged children, the financial costs will outweigh the tax benefit to the school district. In addition, what is to compel these "empty nesters," who are already going to be paying high taxes, to vote to pass a school budget, or even more importantly, pass bond issues to help alleviate the dreadful overcrowding in our schools?

I do not want The Heritage to be the legacy that we leave Manhasset. I hope you will join me by petitioning and writing letters to the town board, and just as importantly attending the next, and maybe final town board meeting on May 27. Please help us to say "No" to Puntillo and JOBCO.

Claudia Marra-Garbus