Trustee: Cap on Mall Growth a 'Win' For Garden City

Village officials are satisfied with limits placed on any future expansion of Roosevelt Field mall, calling the cap a real "win" for Garden City.

The Town of Hempstead held a public hearing Sept. 17 to discuss legislation that would establish new zoning requirements for regional shopping malls like Roosevelt Field in East Garden City and Green Acres mall in Valley Stream.

The primary intent of the proposed Building Zoning Ordinance (BZO) amendment is to "establish common design controls, bulk and parking requirements for this use, as well as to establish a simplified means for calculation of off-street parking requirements and an established method to document changes of uses within a regional shopping mall," according to Town documents.

Trustee Dennis Donnelly testified at the hearing, which was also attended by fellow trustee Nick Episcopia, village administrator Robert Schoelle, village counsel Gary Fishberg and Eastern Property Owners' Association president Christine Mullaney.

"We were successful in getting them to lower their proposed FAR from .75 to .70," Donnelly said. "In simple terms we got them to include a hard cap on the ability to expand the mall beyond Neiman Marcus and its associated retail.

"In the future, Roosevelt Field, even if they expand the footprint of the field, if they buy property that adds to the size of Roosevelt Field, which they have already done in some instances, they cannot exceed 3,550,000 square feet of buildings bulk. That's a real win for us in Garden City. That will pretty much be the end of any expansion of Roosevelt Field now or in the future."

Though the town board reserved decision on the proposed legislation, board members unanimously agreed to an amendment that limits mall owners to 3.55 million square feet of floor area - instead of 3.6 million square feet.

The mall currently sits within a Y Industrial Zone that permits an FAR (Floor Area Ratio) of .4. Zoning for that district was amended in 1989, Donnelly said, to permit the Town Zoning Board to allow an FAR in excess of .4 by special permit.

"At that time the Mall was actually a non-conforming use having an existing FAR of .529," he testified. In 1995 the Town Zoning Board approved a special exception to increase the FAR from .529 to .696 to accommodate the addition of Nordstrom’s.

Three years later, the mall sought to increase the FAR to .75 to enable the addition of 184,000 square feet of retail space and a 187,000 square foot parking deck addition, Donnelly testified.

"The Town Zoning Board denied this, finding that the area around the Mall was 'oversaturated,' and that 'the health, safety, comfort and well being of the residents in the area and the communities surrounding the Mall have already been impacted by the earlier expansions at the mall,'" Donnelly said.

The EPOA has held numerous meetings with Simon Property Group, Inc., owners of Roosevelt Field Mall, so residents could better understand the scope of the proposed expansion.

"We do not object to the addition of Neiman Marcus and the associated small amount of retail space and parking deck," Mullaney testified. "The EPOA does not object if—and this is the crucial point—the FAR does not exceed .7, newly acquired Garden City property is excluded from the FAR calculation and there is a maximum cap on the total floor area that cannot exceed 3,550,000 square feet, so as to insure that there is no future enlargement of the mall."

Donnelly acknowledged Town supervisor Kate Murray and councilman Ed Ambrosino, whom he said were "particularly helpful" in working with the village to insure that a reasonable solution could be reached.

"The reduction of the hard cap to 3,550,000 square feet will forever protect Garden City from further development," he said.

Mayor John Watras welcomed the news and thanked those who who attended the hearing. "I want to applaud all of you with regards to the Roosevelt Field minimization," he said, jokingly asking if the village could sway Neiman Marcus to set up shop on Franklin Avenue in the village.

"We're good but not that good," Episcopia said.