Williston Park’s Village Board delayed a public hearing for a proposed foot massage spa Tuesday over the proprietor’s objections.
Trustees made the move after village Building Inspector Kerry Collins determined the application for Simply Foot Spa at 121 Hillside Ave. needed a variance from the Board of Zoning Appeals as a massage establishment.
Attorney Michael Holland, representing spa owner Byung Suk You, said a massage business is a permitted use for the site, and the Village Board could issue a special exception permit without the zoning board’s say.
“I can’t go and apply for a variance that’s not necessary,” Holland said at Tuesday’s Village Board meeting.
Simply Foot Spa would offer foot, leg and some full-body massages, Holland said, a permitted use for the Hillside Avenue location. Other facilities in the village offer similar services, he said.
Village code says massage establishments require a special exception permit from the Village Board.
Collins, who reviews all applications for special permits and enforces zoning regulations, said You’s application is subject to a village ordinance that says a massage establishment can’t operate within 1,000 feet of a school, park or house of worship.
The zoning board has to except Simply Foot Spa from that provision before the Village Board can grant a special exception permit, also required for massage parlors under village code, Collins said.
Holland said Collins made the decision after You had completed all the required steps to get a Village Board hearing for the permit.
He argued Collins had no authority to make the decision when village code clearly says, in his view, the village trustees can override the distance provision.
“You can’t make this up as you go along,” he told the board. “Mr. Collins has no place in this process.”
But Chris Prior, filling in for James Bradley as Williston Park’s village attorney Tuesday, said Collins’ power over the application is established in state law governing villages.
“When you tell me he doesn’t have the authority, I’m telling you you’re wrong,” Prior told Holland.
The trustees voted unanimously to postpone the special exception permit hearing to March, pending the zoning board’s approval of the variance waiving the 1,000-foot limit.
The Village Board also voted Tuesday to enact a law allowing residents to build porches as wide as their homes.
The law strikes the current definition of “portico” in the village code, which says homeowners can only build covered porches up to seven feet wide and extending no more than four feet from the front of a house.
A new definition of “porch” replaces it, allowing open or covered porches as wide as the attached house that can extend into the front yard up to six feet with at least 10 feet between the porch and the street.
A vote on the law was delayed after a December hearing because the board had to change confusing wording in the language.
Holland, representing resident Frank Carney, pointed out another error Tuesday relating to the definition of a front yard, which the board corrected before passing the law.
