A Village of Great Neck zoning board member was joined by residents Tuesday in challenging a proposal by the Board of Trustees to take authority from the zoning board for reviewing special-use permits for places of worship and schools.
“There is no indication of motivation, why are we doing this,” zoning board member Steven Markowitz said. “What is the purpose, what is driving this?”
The public hearing drew a large crowd of residents with seven speaking for the bill, and 12 speaking against.
Public comments against the bill shared the question of why this change is needed.
After hearing public comments the board held a short executive session, and decided to postpone further decisions until a later meeting.
“Hearing the council, hearing [Board of Zoning Appeals] members, hearing the public on both sides of the aisle, we are going to hold this,” Village of Great Neck Mayor Pedram Bral said. “We will think about it and discuss it in the future meeting.”
Bral, who was elected mayor in June along with two trustee candidates calling for change in village government, said he proposed the change after receiving complaints that the village’s approval process is overly long and expensive, often costing thousands of dollars in fees and taking years before a final plan is approved.
“We wanted to streamline what already exists,” Bral said. “The Board of Trustees already has the responsibility to take care of special permits for places such as restaurants, open storefronts, and cell towers.”’
Bral added the only permits the board does not have current jurisdiction over are places of worship, and schools. He said the board wanted to decrease the time and cost that would be spent on these cases.
In New York State, the Board of Trustees are given the authority to hear cases regarding special permits, which they can delegate to the Board of Zoning Appeals.
Zoning Board of Appeals Chairman Dennis Grossman said he was not prepared to comment on the proposal.
“This is something I can’t address tonight because I don’t have a counsel, and I don’t have an opportunity to discuss it with the board,” Grossman said.
The Board of Zoning appeals only meets once a month, and is unable to meet with more than two members in between sessions.
The public hearing for the bill was announced at the previous Board of Trustees meeting in November.
Markowitz said his concern was “the fact that this thing was done without any public notice and certainly without any conversation with the Board of Zoning Appeals.”
Village Attorney Peter Bee said the bill “will not be changing the authority of the board of zoning appeals with effects to variances, it is simply taking back to the board of trustees the final authority over a larger group, in fact all, special permits.”
In the past, these authorities were given to the Board of Zoning appeals and within the last 10 years the trustees have regained authority over certain permits.
The change would still allow the trustees to seek input and consultation from the Board of Zoning Appeals when hearing a complicated case.
Grossman said he agreed with both sides of public concern, that making the process simpler would benefit the community.
“I totally agree with everything I heard tonight about shortening, lower the price, getting things done quicker and so on,” he said. “Perhaps we should look at another way to accomplish accommodating everybody here without completely taking the code and tossing it.”
