Charles Wang along with his development company and team of experts, unveiled his new plan last week, dubbed "Old Plainview," for a 166-acre development that offers senior housing, next generation housing, office buildings, a four-star hotel and retail stores.

Presiding Officer Judy Jacobs and Legislator Dave Mejias organized the meeting to allow Wang the opportunity to show residents his proposal and also give them the chance to offer feedback and input.

Jacobs and Mejias opened the meeting by explaining that they were hosting the meeting since they are not the entity that will eventually vote on the proposal. Wang needs to change the zoning on the property to make his plans a reality and the town votes on all zoning issues.

Nassau County Planning Commission Chairman Lewis Yevoli was also at the meeting and briefed the approximately 1,000 people in attendance on the zoning process.

"Let's remember that this proposal is merely that - a proposal," said Yevoli, who explained that a sub-division map will be filed with the planning commission by Wang and an application will be submitted to the Town of Oyster Bay board for a change of zone request. "We should give credit to the developer that they are willing to listen," added Yevoli.

Wang thanked the standing room only crowd for attending the meeting. "We are all here to talk about a development that we can all be proud of," said Wang.

Wang purchased 144-acres of land on the southwest corner of Round Swamp Road south of Old Country Road from Nassau County in 1999. The proposal for the land includes a village green open to the community, a four-star Hyatt Hotel and office condos and residences. The proposal retains existing buildings and topography and includes park and recreational space including 40-acres of park land.

Twenty-two acres of land on the north side Old Country Road are also involved in the plan. The proposal calls for a neighborhood shopping center, which will be similar to a Main Street that houses restaurants, a supermarket and other retail establishments, and Avalon Bay high-end apartments, which Wang called "Next Generations Apartments" for returning college graduates, with priority given to Plainview and Old Bethpage residents.

Currently, this parcel is home to the corporate offices of the New York Islanders, the New York Dragons team and the Plainview Cultural Development Center, which offers Chinese language and cultural programs to children throughout Long Island, all of which Wang owns.

The property also is the home to several social service programs offered by Nassau County and other non-profit organizations. According to Wang, he has spoken to people representing Nassau County and it is the county's decision if they wish to keep those programs going. The site also houses soccer fields used by the Plainview-Old Bethpage Soccer Club and the Long Island Junior Soccer League's Soccer Park.

Wang said there are 10 issues that residents have raised regarding development on the property. "Taxes for the school, addition of kids in the school, taxes for the school, S-2 housing for Plainview Old Bethpage seniors, taxes for the school, housing for returning Plainview and Old Bethpage residents after college, taxes for the school, environmental issues and traffic," said Wang, who then explained how he addressed these concerns to meet the needs that residents expressed.

According to Wang, 10 percent of the housing will be dedicated to S-2 housing, which is senior housing, with priority given to Plainview and Old Bethpage residents. Another option is to take space from the allotted 40-acres of recreational space and park land to increase the percentage of S-2 housing from 10 to 20 percent.

According to Wang, 50 percent of the housing will be reserved for people 55-years-old and over. In addition to the S-2 housing, townhouses will be sold at market prices to those 55 years and older with priority again given to Plainview Old Bethpage residents.

With regard to taxes, Wang said the property will add an estimated $9 million to the school district a year. He also said that $10 million has already been paid in real estate taxes.

To address the concerns of the increase in the number of students this would bring to the district, economist Dr. Pearl Kramer was hired to study and research the impact this would have on the school district. Kramer said Old Plainview's ratio of public school enrollments will resemble other upscale communities such as Long Beach, Great Neck and North Hills and those are the communities she based her study on.

According to Kramer, there will be approximately 720 housing units in all, 220 rental units and 499 townhouses. She said she did not consider in her research that half of the units were going to be sold to seniors and thus probably not affect the school district by adding students.

"I was conservative in my analysis and I used 2000 census data," said Kramer. Her estimates found on a low end that 115 additional K-12 students would be added to the district, and on the high end, using the Nassau County average for her basis, found that 331 additional students would be entering the school district. Still she said she did not consider 50 percent of the housing will be sold to seniors in either analysis.

Abraham Poznanski, president of Plainview Properties and CEO of Northern Bay Management Group, a real estate management and services company that manages the real estate interests of Wang, made a PowerPoint presentation highlighting some key points of Old Plainview.

"This development is based on a smart-growth model," said Poznanski, who explained that smart growth is a development that is environmentally, fiscally, and economically smart. The smart growth checklist that Wang and Poznanski followed for this mixed use parcel included community and stakeholder collaboration in development decisions, compact building design, direct development toward existing communities, distinctive and attractive places, mixed land uses, predictable and cost effective development decision, preserve open space, natural beauty and critical environmental area, offer a range of housing choices, offer a variety of transportation choices and include walkable neighborhoods.

According to the presentation, Wang and his team considered key county economic initiatives and objectives in formulating this proposal and they estimate that there will be hundreds of millions of dollars in economic benefit over the next decade. Also, the team said they developed the plan incorporating community needs and held over 50 meetings with government agencies and community groups.

According to Poznanski, there will be 300,000 square feet of office space using some of the existing buildings. The current highest building, the Davis building, which is four-stories tall, will be the highest building and also the height of the hotel. All other offices and structures would be two-and-a-half stories or lower, according to Poznanski.

For those concerned with the environmental aspects of the property, a 200-foot buffer zone has been established around the property, as a request from Judy Jacobs. Also, all existing buildings will remain and as much green as possible will be retained.

"We have created the best possible plan with regard to traffic and the environment," said Wang.

Residents brought up many issues and concerns including traffic, the heavy congestion in the area, environmental and pollution concerns and the influx of new students and the impact on the Plainview Old Bethpage School District.

One suggestion that received the biggest ovation was changing the name from "Old Plainview" to "New Plainview" because "this is not the Old Plainview that I remember or my ancestors remember," the resident said.

Another concern was the impact that this would have on the fire department, the water district and the hospital. Wang said he will meet with these groups to make sure all needs are met.

Although many issues and questions were raised, Wang and his team did not have all of the answers, but promised to get them. The next step is to prepare a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) that needs to be completed as part of the application process with the town. The DEIS will address many of the questions that were raised at the meeting.

Although not all residents had the chance to speak due to time constraints, Wang promised another meeting to address all concerns. Some were concerned about the lack of notice for meetings. CAPS: (EMAILED)