Mineola’s pet owners will soon see an animal hospital almost twice the size.
The village’s board of trustees unanimously approved a roughly 2,000-square-foot expansion to the Mineola Animal Hospital on Jericho Turnpike.
The animal hospital is currently 2,800 square feet and includes three exam rooms, a waiting room, a dental room a surgical room and three full-time veterinaries. To achieve the expansion, the animal hospital will be taking over an adjacent vacant building.
“We plan on having a total of eight exam rooms,” said Mineola Animal Hospital veterinarian Gary Dattner. “Before, we had four full-time veterinarians and only three exam rooms. We often had to shuffle pets in and out quickly when each vet had an appointment.”
The animal hospital also plans to improve existing facilities by separating the dental and surgical procedure rooms.
The board granted Dattner the permit in a 5-0 vote, thanking him for the service the hospital provided to the village.
“My 14-year-old pitbull is one of your patients,” said Mineola Trustee Paul Cusato. “I know you could use the space to help other pets like mine.”
The animal hospital has been in the community for over twenty years and plans to hire at least one more full-time veterinarian.
After the vote, the board discussed two special-use permits submitted by Michael Stambolis to redevelop vacant retail space on Jericho Turnpike into apartments.
The two units are located at 143 and 176 Jericho Turnpike. The permit for 143 Jericho Turnpike looks to convert the ground floor of a vacant store into two two-bedroom apartments.
The permit for 176 Jericho Turnpike looks to convert a one-story retail building, which has been vacant since 2021, into a two-story apartment building. That permit would add three residential units on the second floor and two residential units on the first floor, as well as a new retail space. If approved, the developer would build seven two-bedroom units and one store.
“I don’t know about you, but driving past a vacant storefront for the last three or four years with no new plans for the space is not good. It’s not good for the landlord, it’s not good for the village, it’s not good for anyone,” Mineola Mayor Paul A. Pereria said. “We’re bringing in families that choose to live in Mineola, shop in Mineola and potentially send their kids to our schools.”
If approved, the developments would be another addition to Mineola’s growing downtown, which includes the approval and opening of new housing projects and restaurants like Lucharitos.
“We saw many commercial and retail spaces after COVID were empty, and had been empty for a long time,” Pereria said. “We’ve tried to give landlords another avenue to come back.”
The board could not vote to approve the permits because the plans had yet to be presented to the Nassau County Planning Commission. The hearing on the permits was closed. If approved by the planning commission, they will be voted on at the next board of trustees meeting on May 7.
