Elmont, NY — Crash Data, Roads, History & Law

History

Elmont lies within the Town of Hempstead, whose founding deed the Town's own archives date to December 13, 1643, negotiated between English emissaries Robert Fordham and John Carman and representatives of local Native tribes; the Dutch confirmed the settlers' title with a patent issued in November 1644.^[6] The Town of Hempstead today comprises 34 unincorporated areas, including Elmont, alongside 22 incorporated villages; Elmont itself has never incorporated as a village and has no separate municipal government.^[6]

By the mid-20th century Elmont was established enough as a place-name that a 1957 Nassau County Supreme Court opinion described Central Avenue as a road that 'goes from Sunrise Highway, Valley Stream, and bears northwest through Valley Stream and Elmont and then under the Southern State Parkway,' and identified a rezoned parcel at Fenwood Drive and Central Avenue as lying just north of the Incorporated Village of Valley Stream, near Elmont.^[23] Elmont's identity as a distinct census-designated place recurred four decades later in federal voting-rights litigation, where a court noted that 'the Elmont and North Valley Stream CDPs, like the other parts of the Town bordering Queens, were predominantly white' amid what it called 'black flight from Queens to the Nassau County suburbs.'^[20]

UBS Arena, at 2400 Hempstead Turnpike in Elmont, opened in November 2021 as the home of the NHL's New York Islanders; the arena's own press materials show a November 12, 2021 announcement of a Harry Styles concert billed as the new venue's first-ever public event.^[1][2][5]

How the roads got here

Hempstead Turnpike, part of New York State Route 24, is Elmont's principal state road; UBS Arena's own address, 2400 Hempstead Turnpike, Elmont, NY 11003, places the hamlet directly on the route, and the New York State Department of Transportation's official touring-route description carries NY 24 from the New York City-Nassau County line east along Hempstead Turnpike toward East Meadow, Levittown and Farmingdale.^[1][9]

The Cross Island Parkway runs along Elmont's western edge toward the Queens border. NYSDOT's touring-route book lists the parkway, numbered NY 907A, as running 'Cambria Heights, Elmont, Queens Village, Oakland Gardens, Bayside' under its designation as the '100th Infantry Division Memorial Parkway,' and its jurisdiction table marks the route as maintained by New York City rather than the state or Nassau County.^[10]

Central Avenue, a local road also mentioned in the 1957 Linn v. Town of Hempstead zoning decision, was already described in that opinion as passing through Elmont on its way from Valley Stream to the Southern State Parkway.^[23] Dutch Broadway and Elmont Road are both established local streets in the hamlet: the Nassau County Police Department's Fifth Precinct headquarters sits at 1655 Dutch Broadway, and the Elmont Union Free School District's offices are at 135 Elmont Road; the district also operates an elementary school named Dutch Broadway.^[7][19]

Law and legal history

The Town of Hempstead's at-large method of electing its Town Board was struck down as a violation of the federal Voting Rights Act in litigation that specifically discussed Elmont's demographics. In Goosby v. Town Board of the Town of Hempstead, New York, 956 F. Supp. 326 (E.D.N.Y., decided February 20, 1997), the district court found that the Town's at-large system for electing Town Board members violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, concluding that the electoral scheme impaired Black voters' ability to participate equally in the political process; the court's opinion specifically noted that 'the Elmont and North Valley Stream CDPs, like the other parts of the Town bordering Queens, were predominantly white.'^[20] In a follow-up ruling, 981 F. Supp. 751 (E.D.N.Y., decided October 20, 1997), the same court adopted a six-district plan for Town Board elections, finding it 'narrowly tailored to the goal of remedying the Section 2 violation created by the current election scheme.'^[21] The docket number carried by both rulings, No.

Local zoning disputes reaching Elmont specifically produced two mid-century Nassau County Supreme Court rulings. In Linn v. Town of Hempstead, 10 Misc. 2d 774 (Sup. Ct. Nassau County, decided December 6, 1957), neighboring homeowners challenged the Town's rezoning of a parcel near Fenwood Drive and Central Avenue from residential to business use as unlawful 'spot zoning'; the court dismissed the complaint, finding the rezoning consistent with a comprehensive area plan rather than an arbitrary favor to one owner.^[23] In Matter of Barbara Homes, Inc. v. Michaelis, 14 Misc. 2d 620 (Sup. Ct. Nassau County, decided August 25, 1958), a builder sought a permit for two lots 'in Elmont, New York' that the Town's Building Department had refused on the theory that they were held in common ownership with adjoining lots; the court held that lots held individually by one spouse were under 'different ownership' from lots the same person held jointly with a spouse as an estate by the entirety, and directed the Building Department to issue the permit.^[24]

Government, courts and policing

Elmont has no village or city government; it is one of the Town of Hempstead's unincorporated areas and is governed as part of the Town, with no local justice court of its own.^[6] The Nassau County Police Department patrols the hamlet through its Fifth Precinct, whose station house is inside Elmont itself at 1655 Dutch Broadway; the precinct's own coverage list names Elmont among the eight communities it serves, alongside Franklin Square, West Hempstead, Valley Stream, North Valley Stream, Lakeview, South Floral Park and Garden City South, and separately lists Belmont Park among the precinct's places of interest.^[7][8]

Criminal charges and smaller civil claims from Elmont go to the Nassau County District Court at 99 Main Street, Hempstead, which the state court system describes as deciding 'civil suits involving claims up to $15,000,' handling misdemeanors and lesser offenses, and arraigning defendants accused of felonies.^[11] Larger civil matters, including personal-injury actions, go to Nassau County Supreme Court at 100 Supreme Court Drive, Mineola; outside New York City, the court system notes, 'Supreme Courts hear civil matters while the County Courts hear criminal matters.'^[12] Nassau County's Traffic & Parking Violations Agency, at 801 Axinn Avenue, Garden City, states its mission as the 'timely adjudication of all traffic, parking and photo enforcement related offenses.'^[13]

Railroad and transit

The Long Island Rail Road's newest station, Elmont-UBS Arena, sits on the Hempstead Branch. Eastbound service began in November 2021 to coincide with the Islanders' first home game at the newly built UBS Arena, and Governor Hochul announced the start of westbound, two-way event-day service on October 6, 2022; the state's announcement stated that once system-wide Grand Central Madison service began at the end of that year, 'Elmont-UBS Arena Station will become a full-time station on the Hempstead Branch with service 365 days a year.'^[4][5]