At the Dec. 20 Manorhaven Board of Trustees meeting, acting secretary of Manorhaven Action Committee (MAC) Caroline DuBois warned the Village of Manorhaven, the individual trustees and the individual members of the Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) that the organization would move forward with an Article 78 lawsuit if the 22 Sagamore Hill Dr. property variances are approved and the project moves forward.
“We give fair warning to the Manorhaven Board of Trustees and to the members of the Manorhaven Board of Zoning Appeals of the possibility that they may, both jointly and individually, become subject to an Article 78 lawsuit in New York State Court or the target of similar actions,” read DuBois from a letter she submitted to the board.
An Article 78 lawsuit is used to appeal the decision of a state or local agency to the New York courts. DuBois read that MAC would pursue the lawsuit because “granting permission to go forward with such an extreme variance will embolden developers to request similar exceptions.” MAC claimed that the additional development will cause harm to residents by affecting their health and safety due to ongoing construction, impact property values, degrade local infrastructure and impact local traffic.
During the meeting, none of the trustees responded to DuBois’s claims. When the Port Washington News reached out to the village’s attorney Jonathan Fielding on Dec. 27, he said the village currently has no comment with respect to the threatened litigation.
Resident Nick Marra responded to DuBois’s warning during public comment.
“They use a phrase that it’s going to harm people or hurt people,” said Marra. “I’d like them to tell us how it’s going to harm anybody. Second, in the letter she drafted, it says that the police and fire department said there’s going to be a problem. Does she have anything from the police and fire departments stating in writing that that building is going to create any ramifications with fire and rescue or police services in this town? I doubt it. We’ll see how far they get with their unsubstantiated comments.”
Resident Gary Maynard expressed disappointment in the last two BZA meetings in which the Sagamore Hill Drive property, owned by Peter Dejana, was discussed.
“I had asked a question about the garbage and nobody up there knew about where they’re going to put their garbage,” said Maynard. “Our BZA should be asking these questions. I made mention about the parking. They should at least ask some questions pertaining to our neighborhood.”
Also at the regular meeting, the board rejected the two bids received on Nov. 27, 2018, on phase 3-B of Morgan’s Dock because the bids were too high and approved the authorization notice and acceptance of sealed bids for the same phase in hopes of receiving more bids at lower costs. The board approved a resolution authorizing the preparation of preliminary plans and specifications in connection with the proposed improvements to the village sewer system, which will have a maximum cost of $250,000, which will be financed by the issuance of $250,000 bonds.
