Harmony Learning Center Pleads Case To Zoning Board

Story by Chris Boyle.

The former Yours Ours Mine Community Center, located at 148 Center Lane in Levittown, has sat vacant for the last four years since financial issues forced its closure in 2009 when Massapequa’s YES Community Counseling Center picked up the lease.
However, the building may soon breathe a new life.  

Allison Ulin, Owner/Director of Harmony Early Learning Center, is seeking a special exception to convert the building into a daycare center. This week her lawyers plead her case to the Town of Hempstead Board of Zoning Appeals.

Presided over by President David P. Weiss, the Board weighed the special exception requests put forth by Ulin’s Attorney, Assemblyman Thomas McKevitt, which included permission to convert existing the building to a daycare center, to waive off-street parking, and a special exception to park in the front yard setback.

McKevitt, who serves as special counsel to the law firm Sahn Ward Coschignano & Baker, said that Ulin easily possesses all the skills and meets all the qualifications required by New York State to run a daycare center.

“She has a Master of Arts in Early Childhood Education, and she has several years of experience in working in kindergarten and pre-teen programs in Franklin Square, Brooklyn, and Queens,” he said. “She also had the prerequisite First Aid and CPR training.”

Ulin is currently not licensed to run a daycare center in New York State; McKevitt pointed out that New York State can not grant a license to do so until construction on the center itself is completed and the building passes muster. After that is done, a license can then be granted.

The building at 148 Center Lane has the square footage accommodate up to 52 children; however, McKevitt said that the school will never have any more than 44 children between the ages of 18 months and five years, in attendance at any give time. In addition, the center will employ eight staff members to care for the children.

The daycare center will operate from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, with early drop-off and late pick-up options available depending on the needs of the parent, according to McKevitt. There will also be an eight week summer program going through July and August.

Parking for the center will not in any way adversely affect the surrounding community; in addition to a front yard setback driveway (that accommodates up to three cars at a time) where children can be dropped off and picked up, there is ample parking nearby, McKevitt said.

“There is a municipal parking lot adjacent to the building,” he said. “This is a very under-used lot, and there are always plenty of empty spaces there. It’s only 50 feet from where the daycare center will be, and parents and employees can park there.”

The center will adhere to all fire codes, and there will be no cooking facilities present, McKevitt said. No members of the surrounding community attended the meeting to either protest or support the potential daycare center.

The decision of the Board of Zoning Appeals on the requested special exceptions requested by Harmony Early Learning Center is currently pending. Patch will report on the Board’s decision once it has been made.

Related: Massapequa Non-Profit Wants to Revitalize Former YOM Center (2011)