Serving Williston Park, East Williston, Mineola, Albertson and Searingtown
$1.50
Friday, November 18, 2022
Vol. 71, No. 46
KAPLAN CONCEDES
ISLANDERS GET COMMISSION EYES A STREET NAME LIPA’ LIPA’ss FUTURE
PAGE 11
PAGE 2
PAGE 10
Mineola to vote on business districts in Dec. Local laws would allow mix of residential, retail downtown BY B R A N D ON D U FF Y The Mineola Board of Trustees will consider in December six local laws that collectively provide new zoning in the village and create overlay districts on part of Jericho Turnpike and downtown, according to Mayor Paul Pereira. The board last Wednesday held a public hearing on the six local laws before voting to reserve their decision. In his statement, Pereira, who was elected earlier this year, said one of his main goals was to evaluate Mineola’s master plan. “The current master plan was completed in 2005 and has served our village well and provided a crucial guide to the revitalization of our village, and in particular our downtown. That said, a lot has changed over the last 17 years,” Pereira said. “When I took office this past April, one of my first objectives was to revisit our village’s master plan to determine whether it was still serving the needs of the village and was consistent with trends in our economy.” On Sept. 21, Mineola’s Board of Trustees listened to a presentation by Paul Grygiel on creating an overlay district on the strip of Jericho between Willis Avenue and Marcellus Road and on Main Street, First Street and Second Street between Mineola Boulevard and Willis. Grygiel is a city planning and devel-
opment consultant with previous experience in Mineola, which included a helping hand in the creation of the master plan of Mineola in the mid-2000s. Overlay zones create special zoning districts on previously established districts that can allow for additional criteria. An overlay zone, as presented, would allow future development to be residential-only and exceed the maximum height of 25 feet but not go above 40 feet. The first law being considered amends the current zoning districts to include two new ones, the Jericho Turnpike Overlay District and the Historic Overlay District. The second law amends the village’s definitions section of its zoning code to define “assisted living residence,” “event/ conference space” and “hotel.” Each of those three developments were listed by Grygiel as possible additions to the Jericho district. During the September meeting, Grygiel noted that the master plan labeled the Jericho Turnpike area as an appropriate place for pedestrian-oriented development, mentioning specifically that some outside-the-box methods of increasing development would be mixedresidential buildings, a conference space, hotel or movie theater, among other possibilities. Continued on Page 46
PHOTO BY BRANDON DUFFY
Williston Park held its Veterans Day ceremony the morning of Friday, Nov. 11. See story on page 2.
1,110 N.Y. Dems sign on to oust Jacobs as chair BY R OB E RT PE L A E Z
Chairman Jay Jacobs following an election year that saw party canHundreds of Democratic of- didates fall far short of expectaficials throughout New York have tions. This included the loss of four signed a draft letter to oust state and Nassau County Democratic congressional seats — including
two in Nassau County where registered Democrats outnumber registered Republicans by 100,000 — as well as the loss of state Senate and Assembly seats. Continued on Page 47
Visit thewillistontimes.com or theisland360.com for the latest in breaking news.