VGN mulls changes to solicitation, fee code

Dan Glaun

The Village of Great Neck is considering laws to tighten regulations on commercial solicitation, restrict the placement of unauthorized notices on public property and eliminate the requirement for public hearings on major village fee hikes.

Two of the measures, which Village of Great Neck Mayor Ralph Kreitzman described as updates of current law, would prohibit the placing of signs or structures on public property and tighten restrictions on commercial solicitation. 

The solicitation bill would establish a more detailed licensing procedure for commercial peddling within the village and create a do-not-solicit list, whereby residents could ask the village to prevent non-commercial groups like political, charitable or religious organizations from knocking on their doors.

“We had [a solicitation law,] this one just puts some more substance to it as to who has to register with us, what information we can get,” Kreitzman said. “It lets residents opt out from commercial solicitation.”

The bill also includes a blanket ban on peddling, or commercial solicitation, at the doors of private homes. That ban does not apply to non-commercial groups.

The solicitation bill also would require a stringent licensing procedure for peddlers, including detailed identifying information, a driving record for sellers using cars in the village and a review of criminal records.

The proposed law banning the placement of notices on public property is a clarification of an existing prohibition, Kreitzman said.

“No one is allowed to put things on public property without our consent, but we didn’t have a law that specifically addressed them,” Kreitzman said. “Now there’s a clear law that says you can’t do it.”

The village is also considering ending the requirement for legal notices and public hearings for some proposed fee hikes. The law currently requires a public hearing with a week’s notice in the official town newspaper for any measure that would more than double an existing fee or increase a fee by more that $100.

Kreitzman said the requirement was a relic of when fee changes were treated as laws, and that the change would save the village money for legal notices and formally altering the village code.

“A number of years ago we changed our code so we didn’t have to pass a law every time we changed a fee. Apparently that didn’t change with it,” Kreitzman said. “Local laws are costly.”

When asked whether residents should be entitled to advance notice of fee changes, Kreitzman said that no fee hikes were currently in the works and that the proposed change would be subject to debate at its own public hearing.

“We do want people to raise questions,” Kreitzman said.

All three proposed laws will have public hearings at the village’s board meeting next Tuesday.

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