Hewlett Bay Park adopts building freeze

Before voting to adopt a 60-day building freeze in order to update building and zoning codes in the Village of Hewlett Bay Park, Mayor Steven Kaufman said he is not in favor of a moratorium but that it would be better than, “enacting a law we would be sorry about.”

Kaufman and the Board of Trustees heard from residents before voting at their meeting at Village Hall on 30 Piermont Avenue in Hewlett on Monday. A

60-day building freeze that will only affect new home construction and renovations that are 50 percent or more of a house’s full area was approved unanimously.

Wendy, a Hewlett Bay Park resident and realtor, who declined to give her last name, said she was concerned because many of the residents she spoke to did not know about the proposed building freeze. “If you’re going to enact a freeze there needs to be more notice,” she said. “It’s 6 p.m. and almost August, most people are still working or are away.”

She added that Kaufman and the board should consider separate building and zoning codes depending on acreage. “If a house is on an acre or more, there should be one set of rules and if a house is under an acre, the situation should be evaluated,” she said. “People who move here can afford our ridiculous taxes and will want an aesthetically growing neighborhood. To sell your house, you have to watch your limits but a building freeze shouldn’t be enacted with no one here to hear it.” Not including the board there were six residents at the meeting.

Kaufman clarified that the village does not intend to change set backs or maximum height codes and that residents can still build a big house. “People are putting houses far forward on their plot of land to get a big backyard and we’re trying to avoid looming houses that loom over the road and surrounding neighbors,” he said. “We’re taking bigger homes and trying to soften them up to lessen the impact on neighbors.”

Another Hewlett Bay Park resident, who also declined to give his name, said a moratorium does make sense in terms of acres. “A person will take an old house, demolish it and build something that takes up the whole plot,” he said. “It’s offensive and out of character to the neighborhood but that is not just an issue here (in Hewlett Bay Park).”