A decision made by the Village of Mineola to deny an application to build a convenience store at Amoco gas station on Jericho Turnpike and Maple Avenue was overturned by the New York State Supreme Court. However, the village has filed an appeal with the New York State Appellate Court.

Leon Petroleum, LLC, applied to the board of trustees for a special use permit to allow a small kiosk to be replaced by a larger masonry structure to be used as a convenience store.

The original hearing for the application took place in Sept. 2000. The village's decision to deny the application took about a year after which Leon Petroleum decided to appeal the village's denial with the state supreme court.

The village has decided to now appeal to the New York State Appellate Court. Michael Sahn, the attorney retained by Leon Petroleum, believes his client has a strong case, but conceded that the matter may not be resolved for another year. "We thought that it was a good proposal we had that was sensible for the area. It was only a small convenience store we were proposing. We're suffering in the meantime, but we have to go through the process," said Sahn.

Village of Mineola Attorney John Spellman said the village turned down the application, which included reconfiguring the existing gasoline pumps to dedicate a new pump island for self-service and replace the existing kiosk with a new masonry structure for a convenience store and rest rooms, because the board felt the site wasn't large enough to handle gas traffic and convenience store traffic because the circulation patterns didn't exist.

In its decision to deny the application, the village board indicated, "The parking proposed for the convenience store would conflict with the circulation lanes provided for gasoline patrons and that the proposed use would be in conflict with the surrounding neighborhood by reason of excessive traffic and parking."

Sahn feels that Leon Petroleum has a strong case in the appellate court since in the eyes of the state supreme court, the village failed to show that traffic congestion was a legitimate reason to deny the application.

According to the decision issued by the state supreme court, the findings of the village board were "speculative, without foundation in fact or support in the record." In addition, the decision states that, "No evidence was presented which suggests that the adjunctive and contemplated use of a portion of the property as a convenience store would have a greater impact on traffic than any as-of-right use."