The intersection of Northern Boulevard and Plandome Road will be receiving a facelift. The corner of Plandome Road across from St. Mary’s Church will now be the home of TD Bank. The area that currently houses a BP gas station, Bellini Furniture and a nail salon will be torn down to make room for a TD Bank with a drive-through window.
Reaching out to TD Bank’s legal representative Kathleen Dickson, partner at Forchelli, Curto, Deegan, Schwartz, Mineo & Terrana, LLP, to ask few relevant questions such as: How long is the lease in question? Can you provide the name of the owners of the property? Is the contract is contingent on several (4) properties merging together? She responded that she was “only representing TD in the land-use matter, not on the lease, but I have passed your questions along to my client for response.”
TD’s Corporate Communications Vice President Lisa Sawicki responded stating “Unfortunately, we do not comment on the details of a site in development.”
Thankfully, the cooperation between the Greater Council of Manhasset Civic Associations and the Town of North Hempstead proved much more fruitful.
According to Richard Bentley, president of the Greater Council of Manhasset Civic Associations, “While all recognize the general community consensus of residents, mirroring the initial Greater Council opinion that ‘Manhasset doesn’t need another bank,’ and the dissatisfaction of consumer ‘loss of a gas station that has in recent past provided most favorable gasoline pricing,’ the practicality is that it is virtually unfeasible for the town [of North Hempstead] to reject a bank from being able to lease what is already zoned as commercial property. Thus, I am pleased that TD Bank has thus far demonstrated its willingness to act on our collective recommended revisions.”
Andrew Schwenk, member of the Greater Council, reported on the Town of North Hempstead’s meeting on Tuesday, July 13. “TD Bank brought a team to the meeting—lawyers, planners, architects, builders and an individual that was hired to perform a traffic study. Kathleen Deegan Dickson was making the presentation on behalf of TD and was walking the TNH Board through the presentation.” New drawings were present that incorporated the civic’s requests, including the green awnings over the windows and also, no “Open 7 Days” tagged on either the awnings or the buildings.
Jim Pelzer from Norgate Civic Association asked about the impact on Norgate due to traffic flow exiting the bank, traveling west on Northern Boulevard. The traffic specialist assured everyone that the amount of cars exiting the bank would be substantially less than the current situation with the gas station.
Commissioner David Levine informed those in attendance that the Town of North Hempstead Planning Board was recommending a No Left Turn sign to be enforced from TD Bank exiting onto Plandome Road. The TD Bank team huddled up very quickly and came up with a compromise, suggesting that this condition would only be enforced during “prime peak hours.” Schwenk addressed the issue saying,” one of the reasons we moved the TD curb cut farther northward on Plandome Road was to assist those cars looking to make a left turn onto Plandome Road from the bank.” He continued, “this would add even additional traffic concerns to the residents of Norgate as those individuals looking to travel north back into Manhasset would have limited choices and would most likely choose to travel through Norgate.” Councilwoman Anna Kaplan agreed and steered the council so the board unanimously rejected the planning board recommendation and accepted the TD Bank proposal. Bentley added “the TONH, including Councilwoman Kaplan, Supervisor Bosworth and the town, have come a long way over the past several years in their efforts to encourage such projects engage community discussion through the Greater Council before the onset of the municipal process. That’s a huge change.”
