Follow Progress For Westhampton Beach

By:  Progress for Westhampton Beach

The weather still says its summer, the calendar says school has begun, the equinox¹⁾September 23, 2015 at 4:22 a.m. is still a few weeks away, but summer 2015 is pretty much done with only a belated Labor Day weekend left before the completion of the exodus that has already begun.

The September Board of Trustees’ meeting was called to order at 7:03 p.m. and the Mayor started off the agenda with the swearing in of two new police officers to join our force.  The Chief reported that it has been seven years since there were any new hires in the department.   Congratulations to Marc DeMartino and Christopher Kelly who each were present and took the oath of office.

The Mayor then proceeded to open a public hearing on a proposed local law to allow for sidewalk displays by merchants who can apply to the Board of Trustees in much the same fashion as permits for outdoor music and dining are currently handled.  It is a good effort to find the balance between the interests of individual merchants trying to run successful businesses and keeping sidewalks clear and the business districts visually appealing.  Ralph Urban proposed one amendment to the law under consideration and that was to place a minimum fine for a violation of the law at $250, this was seconded and adopted by the Board.

The Board attended to the other business on the agenda and then the Mayor requested Brian Sokoloff,  the attorney representing the village in the “eruv” litigation, to give the community a status report. Mr. Sokoloff gave a complete overview beginning with the genesis in 2008 to date.  For those interested, it was informative and the video, when it become available will be posted:  here  (as well as on the village website).

The public comment period was largely consumed by Jack O’Dwyer and his remarks that were a reprise of his last visitation to the Trustees on the topic of the eruv.  Pamela Scheiffer was present and provided a most elegant intervention to bring the public comment period to a close.

More about tonight’s meeting later.

Follow Progress For Westhampton Beach

By:  Progress for Westhampton Beach

At the August meeting for the Board of Trustees there were mostly routine matters on the agenda.  Two matters of significance were addressed.

Master Plan

The update of the master plan is now under way.  This has been in the works for months and at times was stalled.  Now, there will be a review of the master plan by a committee of village residents with services provided by Nelson, Pope and Vorhiss, LLC.  Such periodic reviews are essential to ensure that the best laid plans made years ago for our village remain appropriate, and that implementation of that plan has the best chance for success.  In conjunction with this review a Business District Task Force was created; the Mayor appointed and the Board confirmed: Joe Musnicki, Susan Rosenberg, David Fox, Jackie Bennett, Robert Busking, Paul Montagna, Dee Perfido, Jim Badzik and Jean Marie Braat to serve. The Board left open the possibility for other interested individuals to be appointed as well.

The second matter of particular interest was a public hearing on a change in the village code.

The Change in the Village Code

Many in the Village of Westhampton Beach, as in other communities, are concerned that local businesses that are part of village’s unique appeal are in constant competition with the cookie cutter chain stores that enjoy economic advantages of scale.

There is no legal way to prohibit a business based upon it  being part of a national chain.  Still, many communities try.  Local government is permitted to use laws to protect the health, safety, and welfare of its residents and many municipalities turn to zoning laws to attempt to indirectly regulate national chain stores.

It appears that in 1993 our village may have attempted to address the challenge from national chain stores through its definition of Fast Food Restaurants which are prohibited in the village.  The village code defines any restaurant having more than one cash register as a prohibited Fast Food Restaurant, the 1 register law.

It does not take an undercover investigation to see that there are several local restaurants in the village that use more than one register.  The 1 register law must be enforced uniformly without discrimination.¹⁾this should not be understood as a criticism of code enforcement, it was acting reasonably, as does highway patrol that does not ticket people on the expressway at speeds under 70 mph when the limit is 55 mph.  The 1 register law that was not working as well as originally intended has been adjusted with important recommendations from the Building Department.  Our choice was to keep the  1 register law  and enforce it against all restaurants, OR change this code provision. If we kept this code provision the law of unintended consequences would kick in… Continue reading August 6, 2015 →