New York ? After years of tension between two communities mourning the second-worst airline disaster in U.S. history, the city announced Friday that it will build a memorial nearly a mile from the crash site.

The decision disappointed some victims’ relatives who hoped to see a monument in the Queens neighborhood where American Airlines Flight 587 crashed three years ago to the day, killing all 260 people aboard.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced the memorial site as hundreds of family members gathered in the rain, many clasping loved ones’ portraits alongside yellow and white roses.

“I’m here as a way of saying that I love her,” said Pedro Nunez, 35, who lost his wife, Yanelly Martinez, 24.

The crash devastated two close-knit communities — the Dominican-American enclave of Washington Heights in Manhattan and Belle Harbor, an oceanfront part of Queens just south of Kennedy Airport that is home to firefighters and other city workers.

Most of those aboard the flight were Dominicans traveling to visit their homeland or to see relatives there. Five victims were killed on the ground, dealing Belle Harbor a fresh blow just a month after the Sept. 11, 2001, World Trade Center attack.

Belle Harbor residents resisted the idea of a memorial in their neighborhood, saying it would disturb the peace and provide an unwelcome reminder of a devastating time.

The monument will rise on a grassy circle overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, in the middle of a bus turn-around at the end of a cul-de-sac 17 blocks from the crash site.