Village of Flower Hill Mayor Elaine Phillips on Monday commended the commissioners of the Manhasset-Lakeville Water District and the Village of Munsey Park trustees for agreeing on the removal of a 195-foot communications tower that was put up on Columbus Day.
Phillips, whose village boarders the water district’s property in Munsey Park, said she was also impressed at the outpouring of residents who attended village and water district meetings held shortly after the tower was put up to voice their concerns and protests.
“I think if the residents had not united as quickly and as en masse, I think we’d still be doing this,” Phillips said.
Water district officials agreed to take down the tower last week as part of an accelerated plan to replace Munsey Park’s water tank.
The decision was made in response to opposition from Munsey Park and Flower Hill residents at water district meetings who said they were not notified of plans to put up the tower and after numerous negotiation sessions with Munsey Park Mayor Frank DeMento, Deputy Mayor Sean Haggerty and Phillips.
“One of the things I’d like to explore with Munsey Park as well is the possibility of encouraging Manhasset-Lakeville to work with the villages on a protocol so that we will know what they’re going to be doing sooner so that the villages will have a lot of notice ahead of time so that you really can work together as good neighbors and taking them at their word that this is what they intend to do,” said village counsel Jeffrey Blinkoff.
The board also hosted Bill Karavasilis, the Town of North Hempstead’s assistant chief sustainability officer; Richie Baicker and Anthony Core, of the garbage collection company Meadow Carting; and Port Washington Garbage District commissioners Paul Oleksiwl and Bill Scaglione to better inform residents of what items they can recycle.
Village administrator Ronnie Shatzkamer in her report said Flower Hill had received $105,865 in funding as part of the Consolidated Local Street and Highway Improvement Plan to be put toward its next roads project.
The board held a brief public meeting to discuss a proposed local law officially establishing its architectural review committee, scheduling a vote for the Dec. 2 meeting.
Phillips also proposed a local law to eliminate the village’s $25 garage sale permit fee and set a public hearing on the matter for next month’s meeting.
Phillips noted the local law would only eliminate the fee, not the permit itself.
