On Wednesday, May 8, representatives from Forest City Daly will be at the Claremont Hotel to kick off their marketing campaign for the senior housing development they hope to construct in the Village of Roslyn.

The event will begin at noon. For the past three years, Forest City has been applying for all the proper variances for their development. The plan that has been agreed upon by the board of trustees and other village agencies will include 250 units in a development that will also contain several two-story buildings.

Forest City Daly personnel are only waiting for a building permit to make everything official with the village. The site has already been declared environmentally sound by all the pertinent officials. In addition, personnel from both Forest City and a major bank are working together to draft a loan document. Michael Daly, president of Forest City said his company hopes to make its first major groundbreaking work in six to nine months.

Mr. Daly added that he has been "incredibly pleased" with the public response to the project, namely the number of people who have expressed an interest in living in the development.

In the winter of 2001, a ceremonial groundbreaking took place, mostly to celebrate the major environmental progress that has been made on the site, which sits off Skillman Street. At that time, Forest City Daly had successfully removed all contaminated soil from the building grounds. In addition, the company had completed its second round of extensive water testing with satisfactory results on the cleanliness of the water itself.

In addition to the BOT, Forest City has also received approval from the Zoning Board of Appeals, the Planning Board and the Historic District Board. During the course of numerous public meetings that included local residents, Forest City agreed to reduce the size of some of the buildings on the site. The company also assured residents that the facility would not be very visible from the highways or the smaller roads in the Roslyn area. The usual concerns over increased traffic volume were also raised by homeowners living close to the site.

Also, as part of its negotiations with the village, Forest City agreed to contribute to waterfront revitalization projects in Roslyn. The company also consented to pay sums of money for the village's Sewer Reserve Trust Fund, and for the general maintenance, repair and construction of public improvements in the village, including the purchase of a roadbed near the Roslyn Viaduct.

From the beginning, the village's new Master Plan and Zoning Code was written with such a facility in mind. And so, other than making some concessions, there was little opposition to the idea of senior housing from most elected officials on the village's various boards.