The Town of North Hempstead held two meetings at the Town Hall, on May 5 and May 8, to discuss a building code change that would allow business property owners to apply to be in a new category known as mixed-use occupancy. Mixed-use occupancy permits would allow property owners to combine commercial and residential units within the same structure. While there are several properties that have grandfathered rights for mixed-use occupancy in the Town of North Hempstead and specifically here in Port Washington, mixed-use occupancy is not currently available to any new or redeveloped properties. Invited to the two meetings were the 120 civic groups known to the town that represent the unincorporated areas that are reliant on the town's writing and enforcement of such codes.

According to David Wasserman, the Town of North Hempstead commissioner of the Department of Buildings, Planning and Economic Development, who led the meetings, the proposed change is an effort to spur redevelopment in order to preserve the tax base that supports our local economy. He said, "This is the basic concept of taking a mature suburban community and growing it with a smart growth approach as opposed to the unplanned sprawl we have had for the last 50 years. Now we are not growing and burden of taxes is getting heavier and heavier on residential taxpayers."

The phrasing of the proposal, which is currently only in draft form, has several limitations including:

* Mixed-use dwelling units shall be limited to studio and one bedroom units having not less than 500 square feet, nor more than 1,000 square feet per unit.

* The minimum lot area per unit in a mixed-use building is 1,500 square feet per unit.

* No building or structure shall be constructed on a lot containing less than 20,000 square feet with a minimum 50-foot of frontage on the street.

* A minimum of one parking space shall be available for each mixed-use dwelling unit.

In addition, permit applications would have to meet the applicable zoning code requirements of the underlying zoning districts including those for lot coverage, height and side and rear yards.

Wasserman says these requirements are designed to prevent a rush of redevelopment that would change the fundamental nature of downtown areas such as Port Washington's Main Street. He said "We don't want to take an existing 50-year-old building and suddenly put two apartments upstairs. This is for new development, it is to spur redevelopment of a larger context and lead to a better quality of building." Despite Wasserman's reassurance that these limitations would protect the suburban nature and character of the Town, the civic association members who attended the two meetings, estimated at between 40 to 70 people, voiced strong opposition to the draft proposal.

Dan Donatelli, speaking as president of the General Council of Homeowners Association, an umbrella group of 22 civic associations on the peninsula, expressed the most moderate views of those I spoke to about the meetings. He said, "The General Council understands there are pros and cons to this proposal and we believe efforts to reinvigorate Main Street would certainly have some benefits. However we do not believe it is appropriate to bring in a large number of people to inhabit Main Street, which we believe this legislation will most likely impact, nor do we get a feel from our homeowners that this is needed."

A report of the meetings, by Jim Ansel, president of Port Washington Park Civic Association, notes that among the concerns raised were the potential negative impact on traffic, parking, infrastructure and the added costs of education, fire and sanitation services. Wasserman said the town is aware of the potential for these problems and this is why the town is encouraging input from the civic associations to get the code right the first time. He also said any changes made to the current code would not imply an "as of right" opportunity for owners to redevelop their properties, but that each and every application would be heard on a "case by case basis." The Commissioner of Planning and Economic Development would review each case and provide recommendations to the Town prior to a public hearing. This, Wasserman says, would allow the Town to consider the individual merits of each application, for example giving preference to a property located close to public transportation which would avoid negative impact on parking and traffic congestion. Referring to the question of an increased burden on local schools Wasserman said, "we don't want to encourage raising a family in these apartments, we want to make affordable housing for seniors, start up singles and couples. The units don't lend themselves to raising families because they are small."

Asked about the practicality of housing seniors in apartments that would, by nature, be on the second floor or higher Wasserman said all new mixed-use occupancy buildings would be required to be in compliance with the American Disability Act and would therefore have elevators. He said one of the reasons for the requirement in the draft of a lot size of not less than 20,000 square feet was to ensure that mixed-use occupancy permits were only available to buildings able to meet this as well as other current fire, health and safety regulations.

Another concern noted in Ansel's report is that mixed-use dwelling is synonymous with low-income and subsidized housing which if allowed to proliferate would "of necessity diminish property values in the unincorporated areas." The report stated, "the meeting ended in an uproar of accusation that the Town was wanting to create the very conditions that everyone had moved here to escape from." Wasserman said, "Low-income housing is not the intent and not the likely result because the economics in North Hempstead are not going to permit that. The property value, land costs and operational costs will not allow that." He went on to emphasize the lack of affordable housing for moderate-income tenants in the Town. He said, "The $70,000 to $100,000 wage earner cannot afford a house here and cannot therefore live here. If we are looking to preserve the tax base and support our restaurants and businesses we need to provide housing for a populous who can do that."

Owen Costello, a member of a civic association in Port Washington who attended the first meeting, believes better policing of the current codes would be a better solution to the fiscal crises than writing new equally unenforceable codes. He says numerous violations, including unauthorized business practices in residential areas and misuse of single-family properties, go unprosecuted, sometimes for years, even though they have been brought to the attention of the Town. He says this is partly because the Town has to go to the County Courts for a hearing and the process can be arduous and expensive. He said, "The Town needs to give teeth to its laws, square away past problems and get policy and procedure in place so it can start enforcing current codes and speed up prosecution. The fines they could charge would increase their income." He fears unscrupulous people, all too aware of the weaknesses in the current system, will take advantage of the new codes. He is also concerned that a code, once passed, is open to interpretation or amendment. He said, "What's stopping the Town changing, say, the lot size and making it smaller in six months or one year down the road. Or what's stopping a business owner declaring a hardship and getting a variance. The codes need to be written so there is no doubt and no interpretation on the part of the inspector. There is a history of strange interpretations and that's why these civic groups are upset."

Wasserman said the meetings did "become a little more argumentative than I would like" and stressed that the meetings were not a platform for the Town to present mixed-use occupancy as a fait accompli. Rather, he said, they were the first of many steps to ensure any code changes, designed to encourage redevelopment and growth, also take into account the best interests of all parties in the Town. Sounding disappointed at the animosity shown by some at this preliminary stage he said "there is a flier that is being circulated that developed a large number of phone calls into the town and it includes a number of misrepresentations that appear to do nothing other than undermine the dialogue we are trying to develop and dialogue is all that there is yet."

Looking forward, Wasserman said his next step is to "collate the concerns from the two meetings and possibly modify some of the draft suggestions in a second draft." These modifications may include limiting the maximum habitable floor area of an individual unit to less than the currently noted 1,000 square feet and increasing parking from one space per unit. In addition he plans to get further feedback from the public, school districts and other relevant parties within the Town as well as conducting economic analysis to verify the national reports that originally suggested mixed-use occupancy as being a sound proposal for suburban development and potentially suitable for the Town of North Hempstead.