Las Vegas Sands proposes widening parts of Meadowbrook Parkway in Nassau casino bid

Las Vegas Sands looks to widen the Meadowbrook Parkway as part of a $150 million plan to mitigate the impact of a new casino-resort on the site of the Nassau Veteran's Memorial Coliseum, Newsday has learned. 

The Nevada-based company's traffic mitigation efforts include adding one lane on each side of a stretch of the 90-year-old Meadowbrook from the Northern State to Hempstead Turnpike and spending an estimated $20 million to build a new water well to supply the Coliseum site, homes and businesses around it, according to a draft environmental impact statement obtained by Newsday and expected to be released publicly Thursday on the county's website.

The 28,000-page environmental report, known as the DEIS, includes engineering studies of the project's impact on traffic, water, electricity and addresses noise and air pollution as well as public health and socioeconomic concerns. The DEIS report was prepared by VHB Engineering, Surveying, Landscape Architecture and Geology, P.C. based in Hauppauge.

Sands, a multibillion dollar corporation, has proposed a $6 billion casino-resort on the 72-acre, county-owned Coliseum site in Uniondale.

The project is contingent on rezoning the area and winning a highly-competitive state gaming license. 

Nassau County legislators on Wednesday voted unanimously to make the DEIS available for public review and written comment beginning today through Jan. 6, with an in-person, public hearing scheduled for Dec. 9 at 5 p.m. in the Theodore Roosevelt Executive and Legislative Building on Franklin Avenue in Mineola. 

After the vote, Michael Levoff, Sands senior vice president of strategy and public affairs, issued a statement saying the company was "grateful" to legislators for its "thorough review of the completeness" of the report. 

"We remain equally grateful to the many Long Islanders and local organizations that continue to come to the table and work with us to create opportunity and build a better, more inclusive, more sustainable Nassau County," Levoff said.

Community opposition to the project includes concerns about traffic congestion, water usage and a negative social to students at nearby Hofstra University, Nassau Community College and Kellenberg Memorial High School.

A lawsuit filed by Hofstra University against the administration of County Executive Bruce Blakeman, the 19-member county legislature and the county Planning Commission cited violations of the Open Meetings law and prompted Sands officials to restart the state-mandated environmental review with the county legislature as a lead agency before obtaining a lease that would allow development of the Coliseum site.

By Candice Ferrette

candice.ferrette@newsday.comcandiceferrette

Candice Ferrette covers Nassau County government and politics on Long Island. She has been a reporter at Newsday since 2011.