West Hempstead, NY — Crash Data, Roads, History & Law

History

West Hempstead is one of 34 unincorporated areas within the Town of Hempstead, which also contains 22 incorporated villages.^[1] The Town's own history page dates the founding land deed to December 13, 1643, and notes that it specified neither boundaries nor compensation; the Dutch patent that followed, issued by Director-General William Kieft, is dated November 1644.^[1]

A provisional charter was approved on September 30, 1960, and the New York State charter followed on June 23, 1967.^[3]

How the roads got here

Hempstead Turnpike is New York State Route 24, a state touring route that the Department of Transportation's official route description carries east from Queens through the Nassau County line "to East Meadow, Levittown, Farmingdale".^[5] Two mid-20th-century Nassau County Supreme Court cases fix specific West Hempstead addresses directly on the road: a 1966 receivership action concerned a mortgaged property at "600 Hempstead Turnpike, West Hempstead, New York", and a 1961 Article 78 proceeding concerned a rejected motel permit for a site "on the north side of Hempstead Turnpike, about 535 feet east of Cherry Valley Road, in West Hempstead".^[8][9]

Hempstead Avenue is a separate road from Hempstead Turnpike and runs through West Hempstead's business district; the library's own history places its first storefront home on Hempstead Avenue near Poplar Street in 1956.^[3]

Nassau Boulevard is documented as a residential street in unincorporated West Hempstead by two Nassau County Supreme Court cases: a 1964 zoning case described plaintiffs' "contiguous pot-handle plots, each with a frontage of 15 feet on Nassau Boulevard in West Hempstead", and a 1968 eminent domain proceeding concerned park-purposes parcels "at West Hempstead in the vicinity of Nassau Boulevard, in the unincorporated area of the Town of Hempstead".^[10][11]

Law and legal history

In Matter of Mollineaux v. Michaelis, 29 Misc. 2d 933 (Sup. Ct. Nassau County, July 6, 1961), petitioners sought Article 78 review of the Town of Hempstead Board of Zoning Appeals' denial of a permit to use a Hempstead Turnpike parcel in West Hempstead's business district as a motel.^[9] The court found the board's answer failed to comply with the evidentiary requirements of Civil Practice Act section 1291 and annulled the denial, holding a motel use consistent with the property's business-district zoning.^[9]

In Kilfeather v. Town Board of the Town of Hempstead, 43 Misc. 2d 328 (Sup. Ct. Nassau County, May 20, 1964), owners of narrow "pot-handle" plots fronting only 15 feet on Nassau Boulevard in West Hempstead challenged a 1962 amendment to the Town's Building Zone Ordinance (§ B-10.1) requiring a 55-foot minimum frontage.^[10] The court dismissed the complaint (without prejudice to further proceedings with additional proof), holding the ordinance was not shown to be retroactive or confiscatory because plaintiffs had not proved every permitted use of the land was foreclosed.^[10]

In Matter of the Town of Hempstead Park District, 57 Misc. 2d 206 (Sup. Ct. Nassau County, July 18, 1968), the Town of Hempstead Park District sought to condemn parcels for park purposes near Nassau Boulevard in West Hempstead's unincorporated area.^[11] The court denied the application, holding the Town park district lacked jurisdiction because the land already lay within the boundaries of the separate Franklin Square Park District.^[11] The case illustrates that parts of unincorporated West Hempstead fall within special park-district boundaries distinct from town-wide government.^[11]

Civil actions against the Town of Hempstead over defective roads or sidewalks are governed by the Town's prior-written-notice law. A 2002 Appellate Division decision arising from a Town of Hempstead parking-field injury claim held that "no civil action shall be maintained for damages sustained by reason of any defective highway condition... unless prior written notice of such condition is served upon the Town," citing Town of Hempstead Code §§ 6-1 and 6-2 as the source of that requirement; this statute governs West Hempstead's town-maintained streets and sidewalks since the hamlet has no village government of its own.^[7]

Government, courts and policing

West Hempstead has no incorporated village government; it is one of the Town of Hempstead's 34 unincorporated areas, governed directly by the Town Board.^[1] As the Park District case shows, at least part of unincorporated West Hempstead falls within the separate Franklin Square Park District rather than a Town-wide park district.^[11]

Criminal charges and civil claims up to $15,000 from West Hempstead go to the Nassau County District Court at 99 Main Street, Hempstead, which also handles misdemeanors, lesser offenses and felony arraignments.^[6] Larger civil matters go to Nassau County Supreme Court at 100 Supreme Court Drive, Mineola, which outside New York City hears civil matters while County Court hears criminal ones.^[12] Nassau County's Traffic & Parking Violations Agency, at 801 Axinn Avenue, Garden City, adjudicates traffic, parking and photo-enforcement tickets.^[13]

Prior written notice of a highway or sidewalk defect is a prerequisite to suing the Town of Hempstead over it, under Town of Hempstead Code §§ 6-1 and 6-2 as construed by the Appellate Division.^[7]

Railroad and transit

The Long Island Rail Road's West Hempstead Branch was built north from Valley Stream in 1893 and originally connected with what is now the Hempstead Branch at Country Life Press.^[2] The portion of the line between West Hempstead and Country Life Press was abandoned shortly before World War II, though the tracks remained in place into the 1960s and were sometimes used for freight movements and reroutes; battery-powered rail cars ran on the line from 1913 to 1926.^[2] The current brick station building at West Hempstead, on Hempstead Avenue between Woodfield Road and Hempstead Gardens Drive, was built in 1959 after the line was cut back to its present West Hempstead terminus.^[2]