After three years of legal battles with victories on both sides, the Mineola Village Board reluctantly approved a plan to build a 7-Eleven at 400 East Jericho Tpke. in Mineola. This comes after the New York State Court of Appeals last month nixed a village board appeal of an April 29 reversal of a October 2012 village decision by an appellate court that denied 7-Eleven’s plan to build a storefront.
“None of us are happy with it,” Mayor Scott Strauss said at last week’s village board meeting. “We disapproved it. We appealed and this is where we are.”
According to a written decision detailing conditions of the store’s approval, 7-Eleven will demolish a west curb cut on Jericho Turnpike while the east cut will be “restricted to right turn in and right turn out movements.” The decision states further that cars exiting on to Jay Court “to be left turn only.”
7-Eleven will also be required to maintain a 6-foot PVC fence at the back of the property and a 10-foot “evergreen landscaping” buffer.
“This board had to issue a decision granting an application, subject to restrictions,” village attorney John Gibbons said.
“We all got the letter,” Rex Court resident Brian Digrazia said. “We are going to be directly affected.”
Digrazia, calling the streets of Rex Court, Greentree Road, Shortridge, Pembrook and Crandall drives “toddler central,” said motorists are ignoring area stop signs. He called for speed bumps and lobbied the board to make Jay Court a one-way street exiting the neighborhood.
“They come off Hillside [Avenue]…got to slam on the breaks near the stop sign and it’s just going to get worse with 7-Eleven [with] people cutting through,” he said.
Keith Grande of Tredwell Road said “I don’t understand how people speed down [Pembrook and Crandall].”
“The conditions say that they landscape it in such a way that it forces people to go out toward Jericho Turnpike,” Strauss said. “That being said, people climb curbs to do what they want to do. We’re bound by the court to grant the application.”
