Developer urged to drop Port Washington plan

A North Hempstead town councilwoman has called on a developer of a proposed industrial building on town-owned land in Port Washington to withdraw its application in light of community opposition.

Dina De Giorgio, who represents Port Washington, said the proposal by Dejana Industries to build a roughly 56,000-square-foot building for its offices, manufacturing, maintenance and other operations on a 5-acre parcel near two residential developments "poses a serious risk" to the residents.

In her letter dated Wednesday to the town board and town supervisor, she recommended that Dejana withdraw its application for the development on West Shore Road. Barring that, she asked that the board reject the proposal.

The issue, which attracted hundreds of angry residents to last month's board meeting, is slated to come up Tuesday, when the board is expected to set a date, likely in September, for a public hearing on the project.

In her letter, De Giorgio, a Republican running for town supervisor, criticized the project for its potential effect on wetlands, for the purchase price being too low, and for the stress it has created for nearby residents, who have expressed their own concerns about the plan.

Dejana officials said they expect to pay $2.1 million, but De Giorgio thinks the property is worth more.

"I don't believe that the project should go forward, and I don't think this is the right project for this particular area," she said Friday. "Clearly the public is very, very against the project."

Rob Calica, president of the Harbor View at Port Washington homeowners association and one of the leading opponents of the plan, said he was gratified by De Giorgio's letter. Calica said his group hired a consultant to do its own environmental assessment of the property, which he plans to submit to the board Tuesday.

An attorney for Dejana, Kathleen Deegan Dickson of Uniondale, said Dejana "has no intention of withdrawing the application at this time," and said De Giorgio's stance was "absurd" in light of the fact that she voted for the original contract to sell the property to Dejana.

"The reasons she gives to urge denial are based on complete misinformation, all of it contrary to what is in the record and the application," Deegan Dickson wrote in a statement.

De Giorgio denied voting on the project as is. "The representations made at the time were not the same project we're being presented with now."