Serving Manhasset, Munsey Park, North Hills, Plandome Heights, Plandome Manor, Plandome and Flower Hill
$1.50
Friday, March 1, 2024
Vol. 12, No. 9
HOME & DESIGN
FAMED DELI GOES MOBILE
COUNTY FREEZES ASSESSMENTS AGAIN
PAGES 23-30
PAGE 3
PAGE 12
Dems blast Blakeman trans ban Question legality of executive order BY C A M E RY N O A K ES
PHOTO BY KAREN RUBIN
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman signed an executive order Thursday that bars transgender girls and women from competing on female sports teams at county facilities.
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman signed an executive order Thursday morning barring transgender girls and women from competing on female sports teams that play at county facilities. “It’s very important to me as county executive that we set a tone and tenor of respect for all people,” Blakeman said. “However, what we are finding out in the last few months is that there is a movement for biological males to bully their way into competing in sports or leagues or teams that identity themselves or advertise themselves as girls
or female or women’s teams or leagues. We find that unacceptable.” Surrounded by young girls holding signs reading “protect women’s sports,” some wearing athletic attire and most elementary school-aged, Blakeman announced and signed his executive order Thursday morning. The county executive said all sports teams using Nassau County facilities have to register under three categories, men’s and boys’, women’s and girls’ and co-ed. Blakeman said that he is not aware of any incidents involving transgender athletes in Nassau County, but that the Continued on Page 42
7th-Day Adventist expansion OK’d BY C A M E RY N O A K ES The renovation proposal for the Greater New York Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists was approved by the Village of North Hills Board of Trustees Wednesday after a year-long battle to get approval amid pushback by neighbors. The church, located at 7 Shelter
Rock Road in Manhasset, proposed a series of changes to expand the building. Updates to the building include expanding the parking lot, the building’s setback, a new recording studio and other building expansions. The proposal requested variances for the building’s height, distance to the property line, building and structure coverage, floor area ratio and re-
quired parking spaces. The approval for the expansion comes just a year after the village first began its public hearings concerning the additions in February 2023. “There was an extensive amount of public hearings, and those of any adjourning neighbors that have any kind of objection, we tried to accommodate them with screening and less parking,” North Hills Mayor Marvin Natiss said. Natiss also said that the village reserves the right to make sure that the building complies with code requirements and that the construction does not bring in excessive traffic.
“It also clears up any prior nonconforming use that they [SeventhDay Adventists] had at the location because they’ll now have to comply with the village code as part of this renovation,” Natiss said. In a July hearing, Bruce Migatz, an attorney who represented neighbors of the church, said his clients were concerned about how the changes to the parking lot would impact their property. In regards to the church’s plan to change the building’s setback line, attorney Michael Hopkins said that many of his clients were against the setback, which was initially planned to be reduced to 50 feet from the
property line. A building setback line marks the minimum distance a house, building or other accessory structure must be from a property line. “[It causes] an undue hardship on my property and has the potential of negative, long-term financial impact to my property’s future use and evaluation,” Hopkins said, reading a statement from the neighbors he represented. Later in November 2023, attorney Kathleen Deegan Dickson representing the church said the proposal was adjusted to adhere to neighbor concerns about the new expansion bordering on their property. Continued on Page 43