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Fair Possible Pearsall Avenue development questioned
Cedarhurst village officials say area is ready for renewal
Two blocks north of Central Avenue in Cedarhurst, Pearsall Avenue connects Rockaway Turnpike and Washington Avenue. Despite the street’s proximity to the village’s hub of activity, several of the commercial sites on its south side are vacant.
The north side is mostly residential, with a smattering of office buildings.
Village board trustees say they believe the area is ripe for revitalization. They have discussed plans with as many as four potential developers in the past year for multi-family housing that could translate into roughly 100 rental apartments, according to Mayor Benjamin Weinstock.
The conversations began in the spring, Weinstock said, but were tabled during the summer and the Jewish holidays. “I’ve seen some very pretty drawings,” he said. “Our goal is to revitalize the area.” Pearsall Avenue is a short walk from the Long Island Rail Road station in Cedarhurst, making it an ideal location for a multi-family, transit-oriented development, Weinstock added.
Some residents might have to be persuaded. One, Frank Coutsis, said he would believe such a development when he saw it built. “They’ve been saying stuff like this for years,” he said, skeptical that people would even want to move in. “It’s such an ugly commercial area, who’s going to want to buy a condo here?”
Zach DiLuzio, who lives in Long Beach, works at Grid City Energy, a solar energy company at 375 Pearsall Ave. He said he was a bit confused about where there would be room for a large development. “If I knew more about the project,” he said, “maybe I’d have stronger feelings one way or another.”
Some people who live and work on Pearsall Avenue are more concerned about other issues. The street was recently repaved, and one resident, who declined to give her name, said there have since been problems with speeders. “There’s already too much traffic,” she said. “I’d love for them to install speed bumps or something.”
Another resident, and an employee of Tri-Port Clearance, a customs brokerage firm with an office at 355 Pearsall, neither of whom wanted to be identified, said they were concerned that an influx of people would make parking more scarce than it already is. “There’s already no parking and so many commercial trucks,” the Tri-Port Clearance employee said. “Where’s everyone going to park?”
Development would require a rezoning of the industrial area, along with the reconstruction of some vacant residential properties on the north side of Pearsall. Developers and the village could address those concerns at that time.
The village is also considering developing another site off one of the Five Towns’ main arteries. At the end of 2016, Cedarhurst’s sewage treatment plant, on Hanlon Drive, near Peninsula Boulevard, was decommissioned. Now the 3.2-acre site is being considered for redevelopment, which would include remediation of the property that has housed the plant since 1932.
Weinstock said he believed that both of these potential projects could help the village better serve residents, while also beautifying it. A site near Peninsula Boulevard, he said, would be the best place for a development, because the already busy road is best equipped to handle an influx of people, with two lanes of traffic in both directions, and is regularly maintained by Nassau County.
Weinstock stressed that the process is still in the preliminary stages. “Every journey has to begin with a single step,” he said, “and that’s what we’re doing here — taking our very first baby steps.”
