Hello everyone, Please consider writing a email as official testimony to the Planning Board, Town Clerk Jo-Ann Raia and City Council Members against the Comprehensive Plan amendment that would allow Villadom Mall to be built. Below is my full testimony. I wrote from the heart, and I hope it will inspire you to act. Feel free to share your testimony with others in this petition in the comments section too! My very best wishes to you all for a glorious and safe 4th of July holiday, Laura D. ------ June 27, 2016 Town of Huntington Planning Board: Paul Mandelik, Jane Devine, Kathleen Casey, Dave Pennetta, David Walsdorf, Lynn Healy and Leslie Cernava planning@huntingtonny.gov Jo-Ann Raia, Town Clerk jraia@huntingtonny.gov RE: Comprehensive Plan Amendment for Syndicated Ventures LLC Zone Change, Northeast corner of Jericho Turnpike and Manor Road, 0400-209-02 (003, 004.001, p/o 005.006) Dear Chairman Mandelik and Members of the Planning Board: I testified at the Planning Department Hearing on June 22, 2016 regarding the proposed amendment to Huntington’s Comprehensive Plan for Syndicated Ventures LLC. I expressed my opposition to the zone change, but was unable to complete my testimony in the 3-minute time allotted for each speaker. Below is the testimony I was planning to give in its entirety. Please note, though I am a Director of the North Dix Hills Civic Association, this is my own PERSONAL testimony. The members of the North Dix Hills Civic Association will submit separate testimony. “Good evening, Chair Mendelik and members of Huntington’s Planning Board. My name is Dr. Laura DiGrande. I thank you for allowing me to voice my objection to the proposed amendment to the Comprehensive Plan[1] that would permit development of Villadom mall. “I am here as a resident and an epidemiologist who previously served as Director of the NYC Health Department’s Injury Prevention Program, with a specific focus on traffic-related injuries. During that time, I served as the appointed Chair of the NYC Child Fatality Review Team, and reported annual findings on child injury deaths to the New York City Council.[2] So in front of you is a mother who recently chose Huntington as the suburban town to raise my young family, and a public health professional with an understanding of the traffic safety issues this project will bring. “My neighbors and I, who live within a mile of the site, initiated a petition to oppose the change to the Comprehensive Plan. As of 7:00 AM this morning, 2,200 residents agree with us and have signed the petition.[3] We have just submitted copies of the petition to you now. It contains over 800 detailed comments written by your constituents. You will find petitioners have a strong civic pride and a desire to protect the Town of Huntington from an unprecedented amendment and irresponsible land use that threatens our roads, small businesses, and environment, including native flora, fauna, and our groundwater, as well as Huntington’s quality of life and community character – which the Comprehensive Plan is supposed to protect. “Huntington has long been touted as one of the most beautiful places on Long Island, and that's why I moved here. Just recently, the website THRILLIST generated much press for the Town when it claimed it is a better place to visit than the Hamptons.[4] Research has shown that the quickest way to destroy a vibrant downtown is to put up large-scale, big-box commercial spaces along major roadways, just like the one being proposed.[5] No doubt if you amend the Comprehensive Plan and the proposed shopping center comes to fruition, it will become a destination shopping center that will weaken local economic ownership and erode our community character.[6] Please consider the regional economic impact of the proposed amendment change: You will be taking away visitors and customers to Huntington Village – which the Comprehensive Plan promises to protect – due to big-box competition AND the detraction of dealing with immense traffic on local roads that people use to get to the Village. In addition, there are numerous empty stores in strip malls east and west of the proposed site on. Today I counted a minimum of seven empty storefronts on Jericho within a half-mile. Envision even more closings of small, local businesses that will not be able to compete with the attraction of big-box retail giants: Ugly, empty strip malls next to a monstrosity of a commercial space and a damaged Huntington Village. Doesn’t sound like one of the best places to visit on Long Island to me! “I’d like to turn my focus to a quality of life issue that a change to the Comprehensive Plan would affect in the most dire ways. That is, traffic safety. Traffic reports from the developer’s own DEIS note that on Jericho Turnpike, upwards of 1,000 vehicles per hour will be generated by this mall.[7] While many of us complain about traffic along Jericho Turnpike, I’d like you to think about the broader and potentially deadly repercussions this increased traffic will bring. The increased vehicles will not simply travel on Jericho. In fact, vehicles headed to the site via the Northern State Parkway and Long Island Expressway will use Deer Park Avenue and East Deer Park Avenue. Vehicles will also use the one-lane roads perpendicular to the site (e.g., Manor Road, Park Avenue, Elwood Road). Several of these roads are noted in the Comprehensive Plan as having areas of high congestion (p 10-19). “There are neighborhoods in these areas where safety for families is of utmost importance, and increased traffic means increased risk of fatal and non-fatal traffic crashes, both vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-pedestrian. To illustrate how this will occur, there is a high-density residential neighborhood directly west of the site between Manor Road and Park Road and up to Delamere Street. This lower-income neighborhood contains over 350 houses. Children who play/ride school buses and residents who walk/drive in that area will be at increased risk of injury and death as outside drivers use Manor Road, get frustrated by traffic generated by the commercial site and decide to cut through the neighborhood to reach Park Avenue and visa-versa. As Chair of the NYC Child Fatality Review Team, I read Medical Examiner reports and saw photographs of children hit by vehicles on NYC corners and cross-streets. It does not only take a speeding vehicle to kill a child. Inattentive drivers, unfamiliar with a neighborhood and frustrated by traffic, kill children as well. “My neighbors on Majestic and Arista Drives just south of the site already experience these traffic safety risks on a daily basis. Though these are low-density residential neighborhoods, approximately 140 homes, they are filled with children and school buses that already combat travelers who thoughtlessly cut through their neighborhoods to avoid Deer Park Avenue traffic and the very dangerous intersection of Old Country Road and Deer Park Avenue. This specific intersection is highlighted numerous times in the Greeman-Pedersen traffic review as not sufficient to safely provide access to the site.[8] Additional safety concerns include the unacceptable queue length at this spot in front of residents’ driveways and the unsafe conditions for residents waiting at the bus-stops along these roads. “So please, when you evaluate the effect this amendment would have on traffic, do not only think about the congestion that 1,000 vehicles per hour on Jericho Turnpike will generate. The Greeman-Pedersen report and my own knowledge clearly point out that there are frightening traffic safety issues for families who live in neighborhoods along the roadway that related to this congestion. As an epidemiologist, I am forced to think in terms of statistics and risk/benefits based on research – much like you do as city planners – but I will tell you that a child’s life, cut short by an inattentive or frustrated driver, will weigh your conscious down because you could have stopped this amendment. You have the power to say, “No, this is not right. Residents – for a number of reasons - deserve better than another commercial center.” “In summary, an unprecedented amendment to the Plan that changes zoning to allow Villadom Mall to be built on Jericho is an affront to the vision of civic leaders who wrote in the Comprehensive Plan that Huntington needs to “protect and maintain our small-town, suburban character”. This project threatens parts of our quality of life in ways that are not so easily recognizable at first, including damage to Huntington Village businesses and the safety concerns of residents living near the site. “Please do not make the recommendation of an amendment to the Comprehensive Plan that would allow a large commercial development at the proposed site. If you do, it will send a message to residents that their lives do not matter, but the monetary gain of a developer does. "Thank you for your patience, and the time you have graciously given me to speak on the subject.” CC: Councilman Mark Cutherberton (mcuthbertson@huntingtonny.gov) Councilwoman Susan Berland (sberland@huntingtonny.gov) Councilman Eugene Cook (ecook@huntingtonny.gov) Councilwoman Tracy Edwards (tedwards@huntingtonny.gov) ----- [1]http://huntingtonny.gov/filestorage/13749/13847/16804/16874/16876/Comprehensive_Plan_Update_Phase_2_Goals%2_ Policies%2C_Action_Strategies_Report_(Sept._2006).pdf [2]www1.nyc.gov/assets/doh/downloads/pdf/episrv/episrv-childfatality-book10.pdf [3]Stopthevilladom.com [4] www.thrillist.com/lifestyle/new-york/things-to-do-on-long-island-towns-better-than-the-hamptons [5] Cohen, "From Town Center to Shopping Center: The Reconfiguration of Community Marketplaces in Postwar America," The American Historical Review 101, no. 4 (October 1996), 1051, doi:10.2307/2169634 [6] https://ilsr.org/impact-chain-stores-community/ [7]http://www.huntingtonny.gov/filestorage/13749/13847/16804/16874/16878/20874/Syndicated_Ventures_DEIS_App_i.pdf [8] http://www.stopthevilladom.com/pdf/traffic.pdf