By John Nugent
The Village of Plandome Manor Board of Trustees opened a public discussion on the condition of private roads in Plandome Park at its meeting on Tuesday.
Village Counsel John Farrell said that the private roads are not maintained by adjoining property owners and the village has the option to undertake necessary repairs.
“The building inspector and engineer inspected the roads and determined that they are in very poor condition,” said Mayor Barbara Donno. She added that although the Plandome Park Association owns the roads within their community, local law requires that they be maintained.
“The roads are in desperate need of repair,” said building inspector Edward Butt.
Farrell added that Plandome Park residents will have 45 days to submit a repair plan or the village will act to undertake the repaving and bill the property owners. Costs will be assessed equally among the homeowners.
The mayor noted that National Grid and Manhasset-Lakeville Water District are expected to upgrade their infrastructure in the area in the near future which will involve digging up the roads. The village wants these projects to be completed before starting any road repair work.
“No estimate is available yet on total cost,” said Trustee Matthew Clinton.
He also said that safety issues are a major concern as the board focuses on this issue.
Plandome Park resident Nick Priantafillou addressed the board saying, “I thought the village would fix the roads.” Clinton replied, “We are giving you an opportunity to repair them.”
In another matter, the board discussed the application of Extenet Systems Inc. to install 21 cell nodes to implement 4G wireless connectivity throughout the village.
The mayor said that the application has not been accepted as it was incomplete and the cost estimates were too low.
She added that the village will have 60 days to approve or deny a permit after a completed application is submitted.
An outside consultant has been working with the board to design a code governing the installation of cell nodes.
Although “Extenet must justify where and why cell nodes are needed,” local law can be superseded by the FCC if zoning regulations are too restrictive, said the mayor.
Farrell added that the board is prohibited by law from any public discussion of possible health hazards associated with cell towers. He said that the FCC has ruled that emissions are at safe levels and no significant data has been presented to determine otherwise.
Discussion of this issue will continue at future board meetings.
