Mayor Avena and members of the Board of Trustees
Village of Manorhaven,
Manorhaven and Manhasset Isle residents along with three civic groups are requesting that
an immediate public hearing be scheduled by the Board of Trustees before the
Nov. 13 BZA meeting regarding the recent variances submitted by Secatoag 20-
26 LLC and Peter Dejana for the development of 18-unit, 56 ft 4-story high residences on
his E-1 zoned property, located at 22 Sagamore Hill Drive in Manhasset Isle.
The 10 overreaching and out of proportion variances requested by Peter Dejana seek to
significantly override many of our existing village building codes.
Their approval as a whole or in part will irreversibly change the character of the Village of Manorhaven and its residents’ way of life. If approved, the changes will be detrimental by causing major infrastructure, overcrowding, traffic, parking, commuter, health and welfare concerns, affecting not only Manorhaven but all of Greater Port Washington.
This massive and uncharacteristic project in the E-1 zone requires public consideration as
well as the Board of Trustees Due Diligence.
A project of this magnitude requires visionary plans, impact studies and public hearings before it makes its way to the Zoning Board of Appeals.
The effect of adding 400-800 new residents and thousands of more cars to the half square mile most densely populated village in New York State required the mayor and board’s oversight before BZA consideration. This lack of
oversight and irresponsibility exhibited by the Mayor is especially egregious because he
is aware of the precedent this may set for the applicant given the applicant’s other large
E-1 zoned lots and given the other large lots which are awaiting development,
particularly the 11-acre Thypin Steel property.
By relegating this to the BZA, which is required by law to disregard public opinion,
Mayor Avena had effectively disallowed any public consideration.
He has therefore
abdicated and ignored his fiduciary obligation to the 7,000 residents he was elected to
serve and showed disregard to the future of the Village of Manorhaven and the impact on
Greater Port Washington.
Mayor Avena’s judgment and motives are further called into
question given his conflict of interest being employed as grant coordinator of the Dejana
Foundation and as Peter Dejana’s brother in law. His actions removing certain members
of the BZA and appointing others were also questionable.
Given all of the reasons and facts stated above, we hereby request an immediate halt to
the Nov. 13 consideration of this project by the BZA and demand a village-wide
notification of a public hearing be held as soon as possible.
MAC, Manorhaven Action Committee
Mwac, Manorhaven Women Against Corruption
Manorhaven and Manhasset Isle Residents
