The seven-year haggling among the Town of Hempstead, Nassau County and Charles Wang, owner of the New York Islanders hockey team, continued apace this week after the town proposed a multi-use development that would downsize the so-called Lighthouse Project plan by roughly half.

The Lighthouse Project centers on redeveloping the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum and surrounding area.The county owns the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum and 77 acres around it that comprise one of the last large undeveloped parcels in the country's first suburb, according to the Long Island Press. But the Town of Hempstead, which controls zoning approvals, believes reducing the size, height and density of the project -- while also renovating the coliseum -- would alleviate residents' concerns about congestion, retain the hockey team, attract younger residents and increase the local tax base, Kate Murray, town supervisor said.

Vision Long Island, a non-profit that promotes sustainable development said it has reviewed the new plan, and is "pleased to see a proposal that is intended to help jumpstart negotiations... The alternative proposal, while still incorporating many principles of smart growth, has the possibility of limiting the area's economic potential."

In a joint statement, Lighthouse Project developers and Edward Mangano, the Nassau County Executive, panned Hempstead's proposal, saying, "it looks to be economically unviable."