Dear Friends and Neighbors
Thank you very much for your confidence in me, Trustee Peterson, and Trustee Kick. We are looking forward to serving you all again for another term. This team, along with Trustees Cohen and Wienclaw will continue to work together for the good of all of Lake Grove.
We are all looking forward to the redevelopment of our commercial properties with the addition of Wegman’s and Stony Brook Medical to name just a couple. We also have a lot of interest in many of the presently transitioning properties such as the Good Steer property. While there are many developers interested, we must remain cognizant of why Lake Grove voted to become an Incorporated Village back in 1968. Local laws give us more control over what is in the best interest of our community. Architectural review and zoning restrictions help us do just that. This Village board will continue to work to protect the quality of life within our community.
There are also exciting changes coming to Village Hall, thanks to our exceptional Village staff. Without any taxpayer dollars, we will be constructing a 6,000 square foot DPW building. This building will allow us to keep most of our well-maintained fleet out of the elements when not in service. It will also provide our outstanding DPW staff with a new, clean and modern location for their headquarters. We also recently replaced our fifty year old salt/sand shed with a new storage facility and are waiting on grant funds for this project.
We also received a grant of $22,500 for the electrical vehicles purchased for our code officers and building inspectors. These vehicles are charged basically at no cost, as we receive charging power from our rooftop solar panels. An additional grant has also been approved for a new digital sign at Village Hall to display valuable information and upcoming events.
Speaking of events, this year we have decided to turn our very popular Summer Festival into a weekend event, with music Friday and Saturday night at the Memorial park adjoining Village Hall and then a full day of festivities Sunday on Hawkins Avenue and Village Hall. Sunday’s events will include numerous vendors, a full day of music and a car show. We hope to see you all there. The events will take place August 18th-August 20th. These events are provided monetarily; mostly by vendor registration fees and donations provided from our awesome community group L.G.C.A.R.E.S. (Lake Grove Cultural Arts, Recreation and Educations Society). Please check the website if you are interested in joining or helping the group.
Thank you very much again for your confidence in us and your continued support.
Robert J. Scottaline, Mayor
EXPERIENCED BOARD, EXCEPTIONAL OFFICE STAFF, OUTSTANDING DPW STAFF, AWESOME VOLUNTEER GROUP WORKING TOGETHER FOR AN EXTRAORDINARY VILLAGE
The Village of Lake Grove is participating as a Toy Drive drop-off location. You can donate a new unwrapped toy at Village Hall from now until December 16!
Dear Friends and Neighbors,
I hope you all had a good summer and a positive transition to another beautiful Long Island fall season. I trust that many of you had an opportunity to attend our annual Summerfest and Harvest festivals. While these events are well attended by our residents, they also bring in those from neighboring communities, so that they may help support our local businesses.
On that same topic, while I have addressed this issue a few times in the past, it is worth repeating again. We should all be supporting local businesses when possible, to keep them solvent.
Whether it is purchasing gas, breakfast on the way to work, getting a haircut, shopping for groceries, or eating out, patronizing local businesses benefits everyone. We all like the convenience of having these establishments there when we need them. Let us continue to support them for the good of these businesses and our village.
We hold retailers and all commercial endeavors to a higher standard than most of the surrounding municipalities. Temporary signage and blowups waving in the wind are not permitted. Retailers are not permitted to put their wares outside of the buildings, in their parking areas, or out by the road. While this may appear at times to be a hardship to a particular business owner, we remind them that this is the very reason they chose Lake Grove for their business. A more upscale environment and neater look are appealing to the average consumer. This played a key role in bringing Wegmans to our village. After two years of conversations with the ownership of this wonderful establishment, we were selected over many other municipalities competing to bring them into their communities.
The addition of Wegmans to our village will bring new businesses to some of the empty buildings with savvy retailers that realize the benefits of being close to such an upscale establishment. We also have many new medical facilities coming into our village with Stony Brook medical occupying the old Sears building and adding new facilities on Middle Country Road.
While we do not have what can be considered a true downtown area in our wonderful village, we do have quality places of business and retailers providing for great shopping and dining experiences.
We continue to meet with real estate investors to research what businesses are best suited to come into our village. Yes, we have been presented with some ventures that are non-compliant with our village code, but we need to stay cognizant of why we originally incorporated them and choose what is in the best interest of our community.
Thank you as always for your support in everything we do to keep our village on the rise. Lake Grove has a great reputation as a desirable place to live and raise a family. Please feel free to reach out to us with any suggestions that you may have to help us maintain and improve our standard of living.
Respectfully yours,
Robert J. Scottaline (Bob)
Mayor
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