The Village of Manorhaven updated its code during Thursday’s Board of Trustees meeting, permitting the temporary use of a trailer.
Under the current law, parking or maintaining a trailer in the village larger than five feet in width and eight feet in length is prohibited. But with the amendment, the use of a trailer as an office would be temporarily permitted by the Building Department “upon showing of a hardship or other good cause.”
How long the trailer would be able to stay would be up to the discretion of the Board of Trustees. The law gives no time limit, Mayor Jim Avena confirmed when asked about the law.
“If we have a fire at the restaurant across the street, they would need temporary quarters while they fix it up,” said Trustee Ken Kraft. “So I went to the Town of North Hempstead and basically copied it out of their [code].”
Last year, Blank Slate Media reported that Manorhaven did not impose fines on Dejana Industries for maintaining two trailers on company property. After the village did issue tickets in April 2017, a village judge dismissed the fines and said that the trailers were actually buildings and were therefore not illegal.
Avena is the grant administrator for a charitable foundation run by Peter Dejana, who owned Dejana Industries until the company was sold in January.
Avena mentioned that Dejana Industries was looking for a new space to relocate operations, which was confirmed by the company’s vice president of operations, John Hogan.
“We have a lease to stay here, but we are looking for a new location, and we have been looking for the past five years,” Hogan said.
Hogan did not say where the company was looking to move but said the desire to relocate operations from Manorhaven stemmed from a lack of space.
Discussion over the trailer law consumed most of the meeting, but the board did pass several other laws. A stop sign was approved to be added at the intersection of Corchaug Avenue and Sagamore Hill Drive; parking was banned within 13 feet of the meeting of Ashwood and Edgewood on the west and east side, respectively, of those roads; motorcycle and compact car parking spots were added at 25 Marwood Road and 35 Norwood Road; and a resolution was passed that an environmental review of the sewer replacement plan was unnecessary.
Originally on the agenda but not discussed was D&B Engineers and Architects PC of Woodbury. The firm was one of several indicted the day before on corruption charges involving bribery, business fraud and political campaign contributions.
The firm was indicted in New York City but also has contracts with the Nassau County government. Avena said he had it on the agenda because Manorhaven once worked with the firm but did not discuss it because the business relationship between the two ended years ago, before he took office.
“They had business with us many years ago, but it does not involve the village today or anyone in this administration,” Avena said.
