Attorneys representing Taubman Centers, Inc., submitted a letter to the Town of Oyster Bay, dated April 10, that calls for the reduction in size of the proposed mall on the 39-acre site of the former Cerro Wire factory in Syosset.

Taubman's original proposal for the Mall at Oyster Bay was a million square feet and was reduced to 960,000 square feet after the response from the community and the town insinuated that a mall of this size was not feasible. It was again reduced to 860,000 square feet and, earlier this week, the plan was reduced by 110,000 square feet and now stands at 750,000 square feet.

Neiman Marcus and Lord & Taylor have both agreed to be the two anchor stores at the proposed up-scale mall and, according to the attorneys representing the Taubman Co., despite rumors about Neiman Marcus moving to other vacant areas on Long Island, Neiman Marcus will still be included in the Mall at Oyster Bay when it is built.

"Neiman Marcus is categorically locked in and they will still be the main anchor store," said Morton Weber, attorney for the developer.

According to Weber, the entire mall shrinks under the new 750,000 square foot layout. "We will be losing some stores, some square footing from the anchors and we will probably reduce the parking decks," Weber said.

According to Weber, the Taubman Company decided to scale back the size of the mall after listening to dialogue had with the community. "We heard the community, we thought about this and we wanted to have a good situation for the community and us as well," said Weber.

Those opposed to this proposed mall do not believe the Taubman Co. reduced the size of the mall to compromise with residents, but rather to benefit themselves. "The position of the coalition is one of continued contempt for the lack of respect that the Taubman Organization has for the community since there was no dialogue and we had to receive the information [of the reduced mall] through media sources," said Fabricant. "You can't just change the rules of the game. There is no revised plan. They just decided to slice off 110,00 square feet and thought that everything would be just fine - another line of mistrust between the developer and surrounding communities."

Questions still loom regarding what the next step is in this process. Does the Town Environmental Quality Review Commission need to again review the information gathered at the September 2000 Town Hearing, keeping in mind that Taubman plans to reduce the square footage of the mall to 750,000 square feet now? Or does the Taubman Company need to reevaluate their environmental findings based on a 750,000 square foot mall, as they did the last time they down-sized their plans, and submit their new findings to the TEQR Commission?

According to Weber, they do not need to submit a new plan, as of yet. "We do not have to submit a plan. All we are saying to the town is take a look at the mall at 750,00 square feet based on what TEQR studies have been done before. Eventually we will [have to submit a new report], but not at this time," said Weber. "We are not triggering any new hearings or new plans - all we are is reducing the size of the mall. The town will now mitigate over this. We believe that when the TEQR Commission reviews what we are proposing, they will agree that it has been mitigated, but we are not submitting any reports. We do not have to because they have mounds of reports sitting in front of them since the hearing in Sept. 2000. We believe that once they look at this mall at 750,000, as compared to the 860,000 or 960,000, that they will then take the position that all of these issues have been mitigated."

The issues that Weber is referring to still hold ground according to Todd Fabricant, president of the Cerro Wire Coalition. "There are still the same issues at hand, which are, the previously stated traffic, safety and environmental impact issues," said Fabricant. "It does not mean that you will have less cars visiting that property."

According to those in opposition of the proposed mall, this recent reduction in the size of the mall is just another gimmick by Taubman. "The TEQR Commission issues a report basically finding that the mall does not work and it appears as if the Town Board was about to adopt that resolution," said Howard Avrutine, co-council to the Birchwood Civic Association and a member of the Cerro Wire Coalition "This is their attempt at throwing a roadblock to avoid the town board adopting those negative findings."

Avrutine sees this as a perfect reason for the town board to reject Taubman's proposal. "By them now saying that they will go with 750,000, to me that means that the current plan at 860,000 is no good so they should withdraw it or the town board should immediately deny it," said Avrutine. "If they want to resubmit something at 750,00 or another number, let them do it. We saw no studies of the impact of a 750,000 square foot mall. They were trying to pull the wool over the town eyes and the community's eyes because they were pushing something that was too big. Now they are saying that this works, but with no data."

Jack Kennedy, head of the Nassau Suffolk Building Trades Union still supports the proposed mall as his workers are guaranteed jobs if this mall is built. "This project continues to have our total and complete support," said Kennedy. "It will not only generate millions of dollars in property taxes for Nassau County and the Town of Oyster Bay, but it will provide the labor unions with thousands of hours of work at a time when the economy is skidding into one more down cycle. This project is a fire wall against unemployment and soaring property taxes and those who oppose it will be no friend of organized labor."

Fabricant stated that the Cerro Coalition "...stands in total opposition to this project being developed as a mall. We are still in full support of the Nassau Suffolk Building Trades Council that they should have bona fide employment - just not on a project of this magnitude," concluded Fabricant.

According to a spokesperson for the Town of Oyster Bay, "The letter [submitted by Morton Weber] will be circulated to the entire Town Board, the appropriate town departments and other appropriate parties in the application process and we are going to await a response from our department as to what impact, if any, the letter has on the deliberations."