This is an open letter to the Town of North Hempstead Town Board. On May 27, please deny Mike Puntillo and Martin Soja a request to rezone property at Christ Church from Residential B (single family homes) to Multiple Residence RM (apartment building). Our community spoke out overwhelmingly against this application on April 15th with not a single resident in favor. The public has spoken- Manhasset is united, we don't need or want this project. Furthermore this application, if approved, will bring nothing more than hardship and adversity to our community. The developer's program is a self-serving instrument of financial gain, it totally disregards our rights, property values and quality of life. As a longtime resident of 41 Onderdonk Avenue who would be most adversely affected, I view this proposal as a disgrace on the part of Christ Church in that it completely disregards the well being of its neighbors, the character of our neighborhood of modest single family homes and the preservation of our small town community of Manhasset.

Consider these discretionary questions:

1. Can Puntillo and Soja claim hardship? No one forced them to enter into an agreement with Christ Church. If there is a hardship it is self imposed by both Christ Church and Mssrs. Puntillo & Soja. Reverend Lowry has stated that theirs was not the highest bid, other bids not requiring rezoning such as a Bayside parish needing room to build a modest church and a local Catholic church needing more recreational open space for Manhasset children were rejected by Christ Church.

2. Is there any other possible use that this property could be used for, without the need to rezone it? Absolutely, 16 Residential B zone lots could be created. Or any of the uses indicated above.

3. Would the benefit to our community of rezoning this property far outweigh any adversity it would bring? No resident in Manhasset supports this project (except for one gentleman), the reason is that no elderly resident in their right mind would sell their home to live in an apartment building tightly wedged between Northern Boulevard, asphalt parking lots and a grave yard. There is no public benefit to our community, only adversity to our immediate neighbors by a loss of property values and the start of a new precedence along Northern Boulevard.

4. Will the proposed rezoning create an unsafe condition or public hazard? Yes, just take a drive down Onderdonk Avenue, George Street or Plandome Road during the morning or afternoon hours and imagine a 61-unit apartment building with 250 more parking spaces creating additional congestion on these overburdened streets. First responders such as fire departments, paramedics, ambulances and the police will be further delayed in responses to emergencies.

5. Would this proposed 61-unit apartment building be harmful to our environment? The proposed 61-unit structure, if rezoning were approved, would have one of the highest "carbon footprints" of any site in North Hempstead by producing 50 tons of carbon dioxide per unit per year (which is the equivalent of 10 commuter automobiles per unit) and little to no production of oxygen by virtue that every one of the hundred or so existing on site mature maple and oak trees would be decimated. The site plan provides for absolutely no open green space, just asphalt, traffic medians and structure. A sewer agreement has not been secured and the possibility of enormous septic tanks adjacent to a sole source aquifer qualifies in DEC parlance as a "single point source of pollution."

Sustainability is meeting the needs of the present without compromising the needs of the future. To approve this rezoning would severly compromise the needs of the future and only meet the needs of the developer's investment. The Town Board must deny this application because it is crystal clear: The 61 unit apartment building is the manifestation of greed, selfishness and disregard of our community-Manhasset.

Norman Nemec, President

Manhasset Preservation Society

www.manhassetpreservation.org