The Oyster Bay Town Board voted six to one on Tuesday rejecting the application submitted by the Taubman Company to build an up-scale mall on the 39-acre Cerro Wire factory site in Syosset.

Democratic Councilman Anthony Macagnone, who held the dissenting vote, was in favor of Taubman's project. "For the last 20 years that property has been vacant, not contributing anything to the tax revenue to the town or to the county," said Macagnone. "We are going through an economic recession and any good jobs in the construction trades will provide good retail jobs and will help the tax base."

Todd Fabricant, president of the Cerro Wire Coalition, was thrilled with the decision. "I appreciate what the supervisor has done," said Fabricant. "He certainly knows what the people of Oyster Bay want. I appreciate all of the support from all of the council people and I want to thank all of the civic leaders, both school districts, chambers that supported us through this very long battle."

The board has been deliberating over this issue since the September 7, 2000, public hearing that began at 10 a.m. and ran until 4 a.m. the following day. This hearing gave the public a chance to speak and ask questions. "We made a decision at the very outset that we would leave no voice unheard in the matter and all sides would get a full and fair opportunity to participate in the process," said Republican Supervisor John Venditto. "I am very satisfied that we have done that."

Venditto expressed that the attention should not be merely on the decision of the board, but also how hard the board worked to create a record that will withstand judicial scrutiny.

The Taubman Company has decided to appeal the decision of the board. "We are disappointed on behalf of the residents of the Town of Oyster Bay and the residents of Nassau County," said Morton Weber, an attorney representing the Taubman Company. "Unfortunately we will now have to go into the court in order to build a mall. Taubman is not leaving and they are going to proceed with the litigation. Neiman Marcus [one of the two proposed anchor stores] is committed to this site and this project. We are going forward with litigation."

According to Weber, Taubman will file an article 78 against the town, a procedure to have the town's actions considered arbitrary and capricious. The plan that the town voted on was an 860,000 square foot mall. On April 10, Taubman submitted a letter to the Town of Oyster Bay that called for the reduction in size of the proposed mall to 750,000 square feet. Through the appeal, Taubman's attorneys will fight for the court system to require the town to review the 750,000 square foot proposal. According to Weber, that action will start in the State Supreme Court within the next 30 days.

"I think it is important that this board's decision stand," said Venditto. "We are the ones that the residents of this town elected to make this decision and it is important that our decision stand and not be disturbed by a court of law. There is no question in my mind that we got it right. I find it hard to believe that any judge anywhere would disturb the board's findings."

Howard Avrutine, co-council for those opposed to the mall, was pleased with the determination of the board. "On behalf of the Birchwood Civic Association and all of the groups that comprise the Cerro Wire coalition, we want to thank the town board supervisor Venditto and the rest of the town board who voted against the development of the property with a mall," said Avrutine, who acknowledged that the Taubman Company would file an appeal. "We will be ready to continue to play on their fields, whether it be in court or whatever the forum is to make sure that this mall never happens."

Those opposed to the project have said they are not against development, but to a project of this size. Some other ideas that have been mentioned included an office building. "We look forward to entertaining future interests of other types of development at the site," said Fabricant.

"Taubman is a mall developer," said Weber. "If residents want to meet with us to discuss a mall we will be more than happy to. We are not looking to do anything else besides a mall. As of right they can build an office there, but Taubman is not an office developer."

Avrutine also hopes that Taubman would be willing to work with local residents. "We want to reach out to the Taubman Company to meet with the community and work with the community to develop the property in a reasonable fashion that will enable them to earn a reasonable profit while at the same time not destroy the community," said Avrutine. "Unfortunately, up to now, they have taken the tack of excluding the community and using divisive tactics and intimidation tactics which they have learned do not work. We, on the other hand, are willing to be conciliatory and are willing to work with them for the good of everyone. We hope with that sentiment they are willing to engage in meaningful discussions."

Macagnone stated that if residents visited one of Taubman's malls, they would realize what a great establishment it is. "I have been to two of Taubman's mall, one in New Jersey and one in Florida, and it is a state-of-the-art operation," said Macagnone. "Anyone who has never seen one should go to Short Hills Mall in New Jersey. It is a beautiful mall and a first-class operation. This would not be a mall with vacant stores - it will be a mall with almost 100 percent occupancy all year round. It would help the community greatly and help the tax base for all residents."

The Nassau Suffolk Building Trades have been adamant supporters of Taubman's proposed mall. "The reason we are so keen on building an upscale mall is that it means continued employment for us," said Jack Kennedy, president of the Nassau Suffolk Building Trades Union. "When we build a mall like that, we stay in it forever. When people move out and new tenants move in, people upgrade or change the decor of the store, we are constantly there. We don't have a guarantee from anyone that an office building, for example, would be done union. We do have a guarantee from the Taubman group that the entire thing will be done with the union trades."

This decision by the board was not one concerned with political affiliation, but with bipartisan support. "I think this board, for the most part, conducted itself very professionally and considered all of the ramifications of this project," said Democratic Councilwoman Bonnie Eisler. "I think we had very fine attorneys, internal and external, working to help prepare the decision. I think we showed that we really heard the residents and their concerns. At the end of the day, it is the residents of the communities that we represent and it is our duty to hear them and protect their quality of life. The residents of the community elect us, not the special interest, not the developers, not the unions. We have been entrusted to protect the quality of life."

Republican Councilman Leonard Symons prides himself on being committed to a balanced growth management policy and a philosophy designed to consider environmental, public policy and economic issues along with quality of life. "My approach concentrates on the fact that quality of life is an economic factor that we have to consider," said Symons. "In my opinion, it is equally as important as jobs. In the long run, if our quality of life degrades, we are going to pay the price with reduced jobs, more gridlock, greater air pollution and all of those factors will ultimately lead to the degradation of life in our community."

Some criticized the delay in the vote and speculated the board was waiting to correlate the announcement of their decision with election time. As Venditto stated, what some referred to as a delay was just the amount of time it took for the board to properly sort through the necessary information and allow everyone a chance to voice their opinions. "I am very satisfied that we have a full and complete record of everything that was needed to make a decision," said Venditto.

Jack Kennedy hopes this decision does affect the elections. "We are going to do whatever we have to in order to let the politicians know that we can't stand to have this kind of stuff happen and hurt our work opportunity," said Kennedy. "It might be out of frustration or disappointment, but we hope this affects the way people vote in November."

Local residents wore their "No Mall Here" buttons to show their opposition against this proposed project and took a sigh of relief when the vote was announced. Another chapter is finished in this long battle between the residents and the Michigan-based Taubman Company, but this is nowhere near over.