Village of Munsey Park trustees on Wednesday rejected a request by two homeowners to overturn a decision made by the Building Advisory Committee, which had denied a variance to build a fence
But the board directed Trustee John Lippmann to work with the Ohlmann’s and the Ashenberg families to craft another application to present to the Building Advisory Committee after they cited safety concerns at their Sully Drive homes.
Mrs. Ashenberg told the board that a man had stripped naked and defecated on her front lawn.
“I’m terrified,” Ashenberg told the board, as she tried to hold back tears.
Ashenberg said an existing fence built by the village was not providing sufficient security and a second fence was needed.
“It is not safe,” she said. “We can’t live like this. We need to move forward and do something about the fence.”
Village of Munsey Park Mayor Sean Haggerty said in 2013 the village raised an existing 10-foot wooden fence that separated the homes on Sully Drive from Northern Boulevard two feet due to increased light being produced by the nearby Americana Manhasset shopping.
“The issue is uniformity and the fact that there are neighbors who don’t want [the fence],” Haggerty said. “[It] is a very difficult situation.”
Haggerty said the fence requested by the two homeowners, for which homeowners would pay, would cost $187 per linear foot, a price that some other homeowners on Sully Drive are not willing to pay.
According to Munsey Park law, a fence cannot be constructed in the Village “except in certain cases of hardship.”
The board has the power to “permit erection of a fence for a temporary period” as long as it complies with a number of guidelines set out in the law.
In other business, a number of residents spoke about the issues of bushes and hedges on their property.
A majority of the residents who discussed this issue with the board said they had bushes or hedges that did not fit in with the aesthetics of the village.
“[Bushes and hedges] are by far the most difficult subject [in the village],” Haggerty said.
The board decided to send a trustee to each of the residents’ homes who spoke to assess the nature of their bushes and hedges.
Finally, Sarah Deonarine, the executive director of the Manhasset Bay Protection Committee, invited the village to become a member of the committee at a cost of $1,500 per year.
Board members said they would look over Deonarine’s proposal, and discuss it at future meeting.
The next Board of Trustees meeting will be held on Wednesday, Nov. 18 due to holiday.
