New Mini Mart Proposed at New Hyde Park Road Gas Station

The owner of the gas station at the northeast corner of Jericho Turnpike and New Hyde Park Road in New Hyde Park is proposing a facelift to the property, with a newly-stylized mini-mart to augment the gasoline pumps.

“This is the latest application relative to this wherein we’ve addressed concerns that were raised on the part of the village, we’ve met with the neighbors, fire department and the like to try to bring an application forward that would address everyone’s concerns and in doing so yield a building that is somewhat more profitable to the applicant,” said attorney Christopher Gomoka of North Valley Stream, during a special use hearing on December 18 in front of the New Hyde Park Village Board at the village hall. “This application’s been somewhat of a lengthy situation.”

The proposal from Hidir Yildiz, who owns and operates the Ultra gas station at 1501 Jericho Turnpike, has been brought before the village board with several revised plans scaling back the size of the building.

The former service station that includes a small store and office, has three large service bays which Gomoka says have been unusable “for the last several years.”

The plan is to reduce the size of the building by “almost half” according to Gomoka in order to create a convenience store “that would be much more utilitarian to the community.”

The minimart will continue selling prepackaged coffee, danishes and rolls in the morning, refrigerated items, cigarettes, lotto, candy. It was noted that Yildiz also owns another station under construction on Hendrickson Ave. in Lynbrook and would be of a similar design to the one proposed for New Hyde Park.

“The purpose of this application is really to enlarge that operation because there is no more service bays in the store so we need to create some type of a viable situation,” Gomoka said.

A traffic study reportedly found no negative impact from the changes and a car count in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, which Gomoka stated in which he personally participated, found between 23-29 cars lined up while the nearby BP station had in excess of 50.

“We figured that would be the peak time for fuel necessity in the neighborhood,” he said.

The north side of the property would feature additional landscaping and a new fence.

“We felt it best on the north side to leave the selection of the fence to the adjoining property owners on the north side as they’re going to have to be the individuals who have to look at it and live with it,” Gomoka said.

The owner would not build up to the property line to allow for garbage pickup in rear of other buildings. Garbage and refuse would be placed at the northwest corner of the building for easier access for the waste disposal company and the owner would close a 2.5-ft. alleyway between the adjoining building to the east and the new structure. The building would also have new handicapped bathrooms and a walk-in storage area.

Deputy mayor Robert Lofaro said that his major concern had always been traffic in and out of the site.

“I think however, there might be, I guess, enough open area that a reconfiguration of parking might be able to still accomplish what you want in some of the open area and leave the entrance and the egress more open for the vehicles to come in and out,” he said.

Gomoka said that his client was amenable to moving parking spaces inside the property and after a conference with the other members of the village board, the parking arrangement was altered to create a better flow in and out of Jericho Turnpike, eliminating two spaces near the entrance and putting those spaces where there had been three spaces in the front. The village code requires eight parking spaces for a property of the station’s size.

The case was labeled with a SEQRA (State Environmental Quality Review Act) resolution along with a negative declaration. The Nassau County Planning Commission will make a judgment on the case within the next thirty days which will then come back to the New Hyde Park Village Board.

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