Lawyer: Assisted Living Proposal "Good Fit for Community"

The developers of the proposed assisted living facility at the North Village Green are waiting for their case to be heard by the Hempstead Town Board of Appeals.

The project was slated to go before the Hempstead Town Board of Appeals in February for a hearing, but it was adjourned.

The developers plan to demolish the former North Levittown Lanes building and construct a three-story facility for senior citizens in its place.

"Think of it as an elder hotel. You live upstairs in the room, and then you come downstairs and you play bingo, have your meals, recreate, and then you go back to your room or walk around the property,” said Bill DiConza, who is the legal counsel for the developers.

The project faces opposition from the Levittown Property Owners Association, who passed a resolution opposing the project at their March meeting.

At their March and April meetings, members expressed concerns that the plan did not fit in with the character of the neighborhood.

"This community was not made for this type of home," said LPOA vice president Andy Booth.

The LPOA, in objecting to the plan, cited concerns that property values would decrease.

They also worried about traffic increases, both in general and due to emergency vehicles.

"Just think. You're buying a house. You work nights and ambulances keep coming back and forth," Booth said. "Or reverse it. Just think you're working days. Or better yet, you take your kids to the park and they're rushing ambulances in and out."

DiConza was involved with a similar facility in Oyster Bay and estimated that that facility receives "a couple of calls a month" for ambulances.

He estimated that there would be "maybe one [call] a week" at the facility.

"We’re not a nursing home. You can’t come in if you’re sick. We’re not licensed for that. We’re a step between your own home and a nursing home," he said.

Town of Hempstead press secretary Susie Trenkle-Pokalsky said that the Town Board is retaining planning consultants on behalf of the Board of Appeals.

"We anticipate that the Town Board will consider a resolution to hire the consultants to perform a SEQRA [environmental] review," she said, "which studies water, air quality, traffic, parking, just to name a few of the considerations."

DiConza said he doesn't know how far along their application is in this process.

"We’re paying $17,000 a month to carry this property and it’s very expensive to sit here and wait," he said.

DiConza said that the proposed center is a better fit for the area than a potential commercial building.

"We don’t believe another commercial use there – it could be open at all hours and attract a lot of people to a strip shopping center - we don’t think that’s a good fit in the middle of a community. We think that this is a good fit for the community and provides it with something that it can use," he said.