Williston Park opens door to porches

Noah Manskar

Williston Park homeowners will soon be able to spend the summer on their own front porches, thanks to one resident’s persistent effort.

After a public hearing Monday, the village board is set to approve Jan. 4 changes to the village code allowing residents to build front porches after many had been denied zoning permits for them.

“I always felt that even in this chaos of Long Island and New York City that Williston Park is like a small neighborhood, and I think this can only make Williston Park a better place,” resident Don Murphy said Monday.

The change strikes the current definition of “portico,” 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.

The new definition of “porch,” expected to go into effect around the beginning of February, would allow 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.

Trustees couldn’t vote on the new law Monday because of an error in the draft, but trustees said they think porches support a strong community spirit.

“I think porches can bring charm to the village,” Mayor Paul Ehrbar said. “I think it can bring a good aspect to a home and make the village appear more friendly.”

The change came to the table as a result of Mary Ann Zwiebel’s continued efforts after she was denied permission to build a porch about three years ago.

Porches are allowed in surrounding areas, she said, so she worked with village Building Inspector Kerry Collins to draft a new law and brought it before the trustees — some of whom told her they also had to scrap porch plans.

Zwiebel said she plans to start building her porch in May and have it ready for the summer. “You’ll all get an invitation to come and sit down on my porch,” she told the board Monday.

Trustees also passed a law Monday requiring a building department permit for film shoots in the village.

The act follows the Nov. 3 filming of “The Book of Henry,” an upcoming film starring Naomi Watts and Sarah Silverman, which created traffic issues on Cross Street.

While films benefit the village, Ehrbar said, the board wanted to have a law regulating them in case any more large-scale shoots come that could pose issues for the surrounding area.

“This incorporates any concern, but it still leaves open the possibility of working with any agency looking to come into the village,” Trustee Teresa Thomann said.

Auditor Dave Tellier also gave the village a clean bill of financial health Monday in his annual audit report.

The village is in a fiscally strong position, he said, aside from a $16,000 deficit in the village pool fund. 

Thomann said the pool will ultimately pay for its infrastructure, and Ehrbar added trustees are working with pool management to resolve that deficit.

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