The Mineola Board of Trustees reserved decision at last Wednesday night’s meeting on granting a special use permit that would turn a house at 215 Cleveland Ave. into a parking lot for NYU Winthrop Hospital doctors.
Attorney Peter Mineo, speaking on behalf of Mineola Steel LLC and Art-of-Form Architectural Services, applicant for the special permit, said the 11 or 12 parking spaces in the proposed lot would give an “advantage” to Mineola Steel to provide more parking for doctors with offices at 173 Mineola Blvd., an office building with insufficient parking.
“The need really is for the 173 building to have supplemental parking,” said Kevin Lumpe, a representative of Mineola Steel, during a public hearing on the permit application.
Mineola Deputy Mayor Paul Pereira said it seemed like a large investment for 11 parking spots and wondered if Mineola Steel would do the same with houses on Garfield Avenue near the office building in the future.
“We have a need and they have a willingness to sell it,” said Lumpe about the Cleveland Avenue property. “We don’t have plans to buy up new parcels to build new parking lots.”
Responding to a question from trustee Dennis Walsh, Lumpe also said the company had no intention to eventually erect another building on the Cleveland Avenue lot.
“We’re trying to keep [the doctors] close to the hospital,” he said.
Walsh asked whether Mineola Steel would be willing to sign an agreement that it would not build on the parking lot. Mineo replied that the lot would be merged into the ownership of 173 Mineola Blvd. Mineo also said there would be a fence and a landscaped area around the proposed parking lot.
At the suggestion of Mineola Mayor Scott Strauss, the board also decided to reserve decision on an application by Lauren Duffy for a special use permit to open a Hounds Town USA dog day care facility at 221 Liberty Ave.
“It’s basically a kennel without a kennel,” Duffy said about the proposed facility that would primarily offer dog owners a place to keep their dogs on a daily basis and get grooming services as well.
Hounds Town USA honcho Michael Gould, former commanding officer of the Nassau County Police Department Canine Unit, said the Mineola facility would be the company’s sixth franchise location, following four similar facilities in Suffolk County and one soon to open in Oyster Bay.
He said dogs share a common play area rather than being penned in kennels.
“It’s a mom-and-pop operation,” Gould said. “And we give back to the community.”
Gould said Hounds Town provides supplemental space for municipal shelters, which for the Mineola facility would mean the Town of North Hempstead. A U.S. Navy veteran, Gould said the company also provides long-term housing and care for dogs of veterans to be posted overseas.
He said he recommended hours of 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. to his franchisees with two to four employees on each site.
Jim Faraday, a partner with Duffy in the venture, said the 4,900-square foot site could accommodate as many as 50 dogs daily.
Gould said dog owners would pay $26 to $30 per day for the services.
Pereira expressed concern about traffic Hounds Town would create in a location that is in close proximity to playing fields populated with many children much of the year.
John Borkes, who operates Atlantic Steel on Liberty Avenue, said he was concerned about traffic adversely affecting the trucks going in and out of his facility.
“There’s such congestion there, I don’t have a good feeling about it,” Borkes said.
During the meeting, the board unanimously approved a special use permit for Meta Burn Fitness, an exercise facility which has been open since August on the second floor of 212 Station Plaza.
“It’s all one-on-one” said Meta Burn partner and trainer Greg Kalafatic about the new business.
He said he and his partner, Rahz Slaughter, have been conducting half-hour training sessions with nine to 14 clients—primarily women—on a daily basis, maintaining hours of 5:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Kalafatic said they primarily work with dumbbells and other free weights in the 400 square foot facility.
He said the partners have been operating locations in Oyster Bay and Locust Valley for the past 10 years.
Pereira said he was initially concerned about traffic the business would create in the location, but the explanation of the half-hour one-on-one sessions allayed his concern.
