The proposed 285-unit condominium project will gift to Polimeni over $100 million in property development rights with a small cash payment to the village taxpayers. The land for the proposed Winston project is currently zoned for a 35-foot residential building. The developer is requesting zoning relief to build a building that soars to 88 feet, or nine stories, on Willis and Old Country Road.

This gift of zoning relief or a variance to build, if approved by the Mineola Village Board, will allow the developer to build an additional six stories. This adds floors four through nine or approximately 180 units. If you calculate the average sale price of the new units ($664,000), you find Polimeni will reap $119 million in additional condominium unit sales with a variance. For this gift of taxpayer zoning rights, the owner, at the last public hearing, proposed giving the village a measly $1 million in incentive zoning money for the approval.

Village residents, at the first two public hearings, seem to be mesmerized by the prospect of some additional tax receipts this project adds to the village tax base. Residents should be made aware of the overly generous gifting of our zoning rights, the additional traffic to our community, the loss of our commuter parking spots at the train station parking garage, the additional density of people to our community and the added costs to the village that are not being discussed at the public hearings.

The Mineola Comprehensive Master Plan recommends rebuilding the downtown area with new building projects that could add foot traffic in the Mineola downtown business district and utilize the transportation hub that Mineola affords and to expand the tax base. While this is a great and noble plan, it does not mean that Polimeni or any future developer should be given the right to overbuild on Mineola properties in the spirit of a more friendly and lively pedestrian downtown experience.

The next and possibly last public hearing on this project is Feb. 13. You could make your voice heard to the village board. The Mineola taxpayers have invested millions of dollars in the library, the pool, the park services, emergency services, the schools and goodwill that is of great value. This village board should protect our investments and not allow developers to take advantage of 100 years of smart growth as a community.

If the board does choose to allow such a large project, we, as taxpayers, should demand tens of millions of dollars from Polimeni to permit such a monstrosity to be built. The outcome of this critical village board decision will surely create the future direction of your hometown.

Andrew Ward