Resident Complaint: Lack of Questions at Last North Hempstead Meeting

Speaking before the start of Tuesday night's Town of North Hempstead meeting, Hank Ratner of Port Washington brought up the town's Dec. 12 meeting. He noted that at this approximately four-hour meeting, which focused largely on Port Washington's there weren't many questions from North Hempstead's councilmembers.

Ratner was referring to a controversial zoning change that was approved at that December meeting. The change allowed for some Main Street businesses to expand to a maximum of three stories in buildings that contain both residential and commercial uses. The plan also includes an idea of shared parking, where residents would park in spaces at night that commuters occupy during the day. Initially the plan included several consecutive blocks of Main Street, but the latest proposal took some of those blocks out so as not to create a "canyon effect," or in other words have too many tall buildings in a row.

At Tuesday's meeting, Ratner said that there was one question from Councilwoman Anna Kaplan about a petition related to the Model Blocks. He said he felt more questions should have been asked of some of the speakers at the public hearing.

Supervisor Jon Kaiman said that all of the councilpeople are informed about the issues presented before them.

Perhaps an issue that was "complicated" for a town resident did not require as many questions from a town board member, Kaiman said.

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