Citing the absence of an adequate village plan, Manorhaven trustees voted Thursday to impose a six-month building moratorium on development of waterfront property.
“More or less the moratorium is to put a pause to the development on the waterfront so we can have an engineering company to produce a plan for the future of Manorhaven so that the present development isn’t able to get in the way of the plan,” Village Attorney James Toner said.
“The village board of trustees and other village officials need the time afforded by the moratorium in order to comprehensively address the question of how to properly modify the restrictions in place along the villages waterfront without further development proceeding,” Toner said.
Manorhaven residents began the debate on what’s the appropriate action to take with the waterfront.
“Some want to build properties, such as condominiums, but residents are concerned that there will no longer be public access to the waterfront if apartment buildings are built,” Manorhaven Action Committee Acting Secretary Caroline DuBois said in an email after the meeting.
DuBois said MAC started discussing the moratorium back in September 2015, as a way to address overcrowding in the village.
“Mostly from conversion of one-family to two- family homes and allowing apartment condos, which are the root cause at the bottom of all the village “quality of life issues” like code violations, parking congestion, garbage overflow, sewer overload, broken roads and school crowding,” DuBois said.
According to DuBois, MAC then passed the idea forward to Trustee James Avena.
Avena, who brought the proposal before the board at the March 24 board meeting, told the Port Washington Times that MAC didn’t bring the idea to him.
“I don’t talk to Caroline other then to say hi,” Avena said.
He said the village board has been discussing putting a moratorium in place for several few years.
Bill LaMotta, who owns LaMotta’s Waterside Restaurant in Port Washington, said he opposed the moratorium and spending money to hire engineers.
“Why spend money for people to tell us what to do on the waterfront,” LaMotta said.
He said the land should be developed into apartments to bring more people in the area and to help his business, which he said is struggling.
“I’m going to be out of business very shortly, and you people keep putting restraints on it,” LaMotta said.
Manorhaven resident Gary Pagano said he’s in favor of the moratorium.
“Everyone has a different idea of what progress may be, but I can just tell you this in terms of progress here in Manorhaven we had plenty of it,” Pagano said.
She said Manorhaven is the densest populated area in the state of New York.
“We are this village, all of us,” Pagano said. “We are the custodians of the only concentrated developed waterfront in the town of Port Washington. Not something that just effects us but it affects the entire town.”
After hearing residents speak, the board unanimously voted to approve the moratorium.
Officials said the moratorium needs approval by the Nassau County Planning Board and the creation of a Local Waterfront Revitalization Program with the help of the state Department of State.
Also at the meeting, the board passed a law to forbid geographical restrictions on contract bids.
Toner proposed the law at a Board of Trustees meeting on March 24, saying the practice had cost village taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars when in effect between 2008 and 2013.
Toner said the change prevented trustees from considering a proposal from Meadow Carting Corp. of Westbury to renew its yearly contract at the same price — $469,000.
The board, instead, approved a proposal by the Dejana Industries of $563,000 — $94,000 more than Meadow Carting’s offer.
The Dejana contract was later extended to four years with yearly price increases included in the new contract.
