The Village of Great Neck’s attempts to declare a parcel of land on Wooleys Lane as surplus have been delayed once again.
The proposal to declare the property surplus to auction it for development has drawn fierce opposition from residents, many of whom have packed previous board of trustees meetings to voice their concerns.
After “new material” regarding the property was presented to the board of trustees by Natan Hamerman on Friday and late Tuesday, the board decided to adjourn the issue at their Dec. 16 meeting.
“I have not really been able to go through all of [the new material],” Mayor Pedram Bral said. “I don’t think my board members have either.”
The new materials in question are a series of Newsday and The Great Neck News newspaper clippings that detail the attempted sale of the Wooleys Lane property in 1971.
These articles include details of the property’s use by all sections of the community and a quote by a former trustee for the Village of Great Neck, where he says that the village does not have any plans in the future to divest the Wooley’s Lane property to Nassau County, which was attempting to sell the land to developers at the time.
Bral originally rebuffed requests for comments by the public, asking, “Is there anything new for you to say?”
Public comments on Wooley’s Lane went on for 45 minutes at the last board meeting.
Joshua Shatzkes asked his young son, Jonah Shatzkes, to speak.
“Out of respect for your son, I am going to let him talk,” Bral replied.
Jonah Shatzkes took the podium and read a prepared statement from a phone.
“I really hope that the village doesn’t get rid of a place that means so much to me,” Jonah Shatzkes told the board. “Please keep the park so kids can keep playing there forever.”
Bral had one comment in reply, “I just want to let you know, that’s not a park.”
Around a dozen residents left the meeting after the matter was officially adjourned, leaving the room mostly empty.
Earlier, Bral had begun the meeting with a moment of silence for the victims of the antisemitic attack that killed 15 people in Australia over the weekend.
“They attacked us on Shemini Atzeret two and a half years ago, and they attacked us again on Hanukkah this year.” Bral said. “It’s become common ground in many of these countries that have accepted and have recognized a terrorist state to be a state.”
Superintendent of the Department of Public Works, James Neubert, also provided an update on how the village handled the first winter storm of the season.
“It was kind of a difficult storm to navigate through for my staff,” Neubert said, because the snow came down earlier and much longer than expected.
Two trees came down along with several tree branches throughout the village.
The board also decided to table a vote on an amendment to the village code regarding property tax exemptions for senior citizens due to disagreements over the wording.
A vote on the surplus designation of the Wooleys Lane property is expected to take place at the next board of trustees meeting on Jan. 6.
Bral has also asked community members to show up early for a “Coffee with the Mayor” that will focus on a “vision for the next 20 to 50 years.
