Community Outrage Grows For Proposed Apartment Building

BELLMORE, NY — A proposed apartment building where a Citibank stood is causing many residents to say "not in my backyard."

Neighbors are invited to air their grievances at a Central Bellmore Homeowners Associations meeting on Wednesday night.

Association president Marge Congello said it's the scope of the variances sought that is the problem, including allowing for 50-percent parking in the busy Bellmore Village.

"Historically, there's never been enough parking on Bedford Avenue. The merchants are being very short-sighted in thinking that this would help them," Congello told Patch. "Most of those merchants vie for the same spots."

Path Land Holdings LLC is seeking to build a four-story residential building with 27 units at Bedford Avenue and Grand Avenue.

"There is nothing of that height in the area," she said.

Congello said the local fire department has cited safety concerns and opposition.

"We're setting a very dangerous precedent," Congello said. "Now we're going to make Nassau County like Queens with apartment buildings? It doesn't belong here."

Congello and her Homeowners Association got a Town of Hempstead Zoning Board of Appeals postponement from March 23 to May 18.

"I've gone door-to-door and I've spoken to residents in a four-block radius and nobody even wants it," she said.

Congello, though, said she is opened minded about negotiating for the community, although she admitted it's too premature how it will turn out.