Second 7-Eleven Store Proposed in Mineola

For the past six years the parcel of land at 400 East Jericho Turnpike has remained empty, a vacant lot of ground stone, asphalt and pebbles. Originally occupied by an Amoco gas station, the location has now drawn the eye of convenience store giant 7-Eleven, who is proposing a 2,500 sq. ft. store.

The only structure on the site currently is a 6-foot PVC fence along the northern edge of the property and an office building to the east. 7-Eleven is proposing to install a new fence all the way to the western property line along the rear of the lot and add 10.5 foot-high evergreen trees in addition to the fence.

The proposed structure would be built at the northwest corner of property and include 10 parking spots in accordance with the village code as well as a handicapped space. An owner for the franchise has not been determined.

There are two curb cuts along Jericho Turnpike on the property, but 7-Eleven is planning on closing one that is closest to the corner and restricting the one near the office building to right-in and right-out only. The Jay Court access cut is proposed being moved further north from the intersection. Access for the nearby office building through an adjoined parking lot will remain.

“This application requires no variances whatsoever,” for parking or structure according to Alfred Amato of the Garden City-based Amato Law Group, the lead local attorney for the corporation, who presented the application at the Oct. 12 meeting of the .

Engineer Chris Tartaglia of Farmingdale-based High Point Engineering said that the group has not yet received feedback from New York State regarding the new curb cuts but that the movement of the cut along Jay Court would create “an additional stacking area at the light waiting for the light to change for vehicles to queue and allow vehicles the ability to exit the site in an orderly manner.”

According to Amato a sewer easement was established in 1954 from Jay Court to Northern State Parkway was recorded. The site was occupied by a gas station since 1952, and the easement was dissolved by village only beneath the office building in 1959. The Amoco gas station was demolished in 2005.

“So essentially you have an easement to nowhere right now,” Amato said, proposing that the village completely dissolve the easement or 7-Eleven be granted the right to place a sign on the property.

Amato submitted an engineering report, traffic study, planning study, appraisal and site photos at the meeting, an action questioned by as to why it was not submitted before the meeting for review.

“It took several weeks to put all this information together,” Amato said, “literally the reports came together in final form this afternoon.”

Ginny Watral, an engineer from VHB Engineering, said that the development presents “no significant adverse impact associated to health, safety and welfare in the neighborhood or community are expected.”

Traffic engineer Charles Olivo stated that traffic studies were conducted from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. during a typical rush hour commute on a weekday in September. According to the report, Jericho Turnpike has 1,500 cars traveling west during the peak 60 minutes and 2,000 east going to Northern State. During the same time, Jay Court has 50 cars. The traffic light at the intersection is currently timed to give Jay Court 10 seconds of green time while the Jericho Turnpike has two minutes.

If built, Olivo said the convenience store would generate what he described as “pass by” traffic, “which means that that traffic is already on the roadway system today.” The store would generate a 2 percent increase of traffic at the intersection according to the engineer.

Numerous concerns were expressed from the board about traffic through the residential area to the north as well as quality of life issues.

“I’m concerned about the traffic going out of the parking lot, making a right hand turn onto Jay Court and going north to Hillside Avenue and cutting through that residential community,” Strauss said, asking about what measures could be taken to ensure patrons were forced to go back towards Jericho.

Olivo’s response that it was the company’s intention to leave the driveway unaltered as “the potential patrons of this store could be living in Jay Court,” elicited numerous groans from the capacity crowd. He also cited a employee in the nearby office building also uses the connected parking lot entrance and lives in the nearby neighborhood up Jay Court. Tartaglia said that a “curb channel” could be installed to make a left out only instead of north on Jay Court. The state could conceivably ask for a raised divider in cut on Jericho Turnpike, but would have to be “mountable” according to Tartaglia due to deliveries being made.

“We have 7-Elevens all up and down Jericho, not on Hillside (Avenue),” deputy mayor Paul Pereira said. “People are going to start to get smart and they’re going to come down those side (streets), down Pembrooke, down Jay and go to that 7-Eleven.”

Regarding refuse and litter spreading to nearby properties, Tartaglia said that it is 7-Eleven’s policy to patrol the area of the store and surrounding area and pick up litter “at least twice a day” and trash cans are located on the property.

A total of seven lighting stantions with directional lighting would be placed at the rear of the store to deter loitering behind the structure. “What bothers me is that the highest numbers seem to be along the back of your store which is in our residents’ area,” Trustee Paul Cusato said. Olivo said that the lighting levels could be “toned down” and modified and that beyond the fence the lighting levels were zero.

There is a dedicated loading zone on the east side of building for box truck deliveries. There are no set times for deliveries as they occur throughout the week at different times. There are a total of 25 deliveries throughout the week. Tartaglia said they would be amenable to “reasonable constraints” on deliveries.

“There seems to be a propagation of 7-Elevens down Jericho Turnpike,” Trustee Lawrence Werther said, observing tractor-trailers delivering at other store locations, including . He added that “to the best of my knowledge ... 7-Eleven has not been a bad neighbor in the areas where they’ve put the stores, meaning that we have not had complaints from residents there regarding trash, regarding odors emanating from the store. Again, it all comes down to the parking.”