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Friday, December 16, 2022
Vol. 71, No. 50
HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE
MARCHING BAND HONORED
SANTOS RECEIVED MONEY FROM OLIGARCH’S COUSIN
PAGES 23-38
PAGE 2
PAGE 9
Mineola board okays zoning to aid development Overlay districts to ease rules to build residential units above retail BY B R A N D ON D U FF Y The Mineola Board of Trustees voted unanimously to create two business overlay districts on part of Jericho Turnpike and downtown to give the village more flexibility when considering future developments. The vote accomplishes something Mayor Paul Pereira said he wanted to do early in his administration when he was elected this year. “When I became mayor, one of the first things I did was call our urban planner, Paul Grygiel, to come to Mineola and walk the turnpike and walk downtown,” Pereira said Wednesday night. “Over the next few months, we worked on a plan to come up with ideas to reinvigorate the village and think of alternative ways to develop the vacant spaces.” Specifically, the districts take place on the strip of Jericho between Willis Avenue and Marcellus Road and downtown on Main Street, First Street and Second Street between Mineola Boulevard and Willis. The first public hearing for a proposal that would use the new downtown overlay district is set for Wednesday, Dec. 14. If approved by the board, future developments can now exceed the maximum height of 25 feet but not
go above 40 feet within the districts, which places a cap on what the village’s master plan enacted in 2005 allowed. Pereira added the districts allow the village and developers to “think outside the box.” “The motivation for me is not to build higher, build denser and add more congestion, it’s quite the opposite,” Pereira said. “The motivation for me, as someone who grew up here, I remember seeing outside village hall a hardware store, liquor store, clothing stores. Those other businesses are not coming back and what we have is empty storefronts.” The board began the process to consider the districts in December when Grygiel, a city planning and development consultant with experience in the village, presented his findings on how to revitalize different parts of Mineola. Grygiel noted then 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 50
PHOTO COURTESY OF RENEE K. PRODUCTIONS PHOTOGRAPHY
The debut of the new “2022 New York State Champions“ street sign at Mineola Village Hall. Mineola District Supervisor of Fine and Performing Art Karen Bernstein, left, and Mineola High School Band Director Christopher Toomey.
Chaminade staff saves student’s life at practice BY B R A N D ON D U FF Y
ing resuscitated by members of the staff. P.J. Kellachan, a 17-year-old A Chaminade High School basketball player’s life was saved varsity player from Rockville Cenlast week after he collapsed to the tre who is committed to play basfloor during a practice before be- ketball at the University of Scran-
ton in Pennsylvania, had a seizure and went into cardiac arrest Dec. 6 on the school’s Activities and Athletic Center Court. For approximately 10 minContinued on Page 51
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