Serving Port Washington, Manorhaven, Flower Hill, Baxter Estates, Port Washington North, Sands Point
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Friday, September 1, 2023
Vol. 9, No. 35
PortWashingtonTimes SCHOOLS & EDUCATION
RACIST GRAFFITI FOUND AT HERRICKS SCHOOL
BLAKEMAN SIGN SCUTTLE FUNDRAISER
PAGES 21-32
PAGE 4
PAGE 6
Bowie Horvat called for soil violation
RIDING THE BUS
NY Islander, Plandome Manor sued over landfill decision near Leeds Pond BY K A R I N A KO VA C A lawsuit has been filed in Nassau County Supreme Court asking for a nullification of a decision made by the Village of Plandome Manor’s Board of Zoning Appeals on July 20 to approve site fill exceeding the village code at a home on 1362 Plandome Road. The lawsuit names Great Neck property owner and New York Islanders center Bowie Horvat, his wife Holly, and the Village of Plandome Manor as defendants. Eastern LLC, a limited liability company that owns property at 1 Stonytown Road, filed the suit and is represented by the law firm Rivkin Radler. The lawsuit centers around a decision made by the BZA, which approved the deposit of 350 cubic yards of fill adjacent to and uphill from Leeds Pond in Great Neck. This amount of fill exceeds the maximum limit of 50 cubic yards that the Village of Plandome Manor’s Building Department is authorized to allow, according to village code. “Instead of considering the environmental harm that would be caused bygranting the Application, and without doing any environmental review under New York State Environmental Review Act (“SEQRA”) the BZA stated that it would not consider any testimo-
ny about the environmental impact on Leeds Pound caused by the fill,” the suit states. “Instead, the BZA incorrectly asserted that only the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (“DEC”) could consider the environmental impacts of granting the application.” The suit also said the BZA also violated “a number of procedural requirements, including utilizing absolutely no criteria to determine whether the application should be granted” and by going into Executive Session “without any explanation immediately prior to the vote togrant the application, by refusing to allow the introduction of evidence showing runoff from the fill to Leeds Pond that occurred after the initial public hearing, and by refusing to allow a neighboring property owner to testify as to the runoff onto his property caused by the fill.” Efforts to reach The Village of Plandome Manor were unavailing. While the Horvats are mentioned in the filing, they have not been present at the BZA meetings and had the case for more site fill argued for them during the meetings. The petition filed by Eastern LLC seeks to nullify the BZA’s decision and argues that the excessive fill poses enContinued on Page 45
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE PORT WASHINGTON SCHOOL DISTRICT
Incoming kindergarteners in the Port Washington School District ride on the school bus in preparation for the first day of school.
Sands Point Preserve’s garden coming up roses BY C A M E RY N O A K ES The Sands Point Preserve Conservancy unveiled a new garden that Executive Director Jeremiah Bosgang said is an extension of its mission of fostering the natural landscape: a native, sensory garden. Bosgang said the project began about two years ago when the preserve’s original rose garden, encompassing about 1,500 rose bushes, was infested with rose rosettes disease. The disease, which only targets
roses, is irreversible. “All you can do is remove the rose bushes and plant something else,” Bosgang said. “But that was the whole signature of the rose garden… if you take the roses out of it, what is left?” He said it was then decided by the board of the Sands Point Preserve Conservancy to seek out a different solution instead. The solution? A native species sensory garden. “Which is a very different look
and feel from the rose bush approach,” Bosgang said. “But there are many benefits.” The Sands Point Preserve is located on 216 acres of land, of which 140 acres are native forests to the land’s natural ecosystem, Bosgang said. He said the route to implement a native sensory plant garden was inspired by the conservancy’s ultimate mission as a nature preserve since a native garden would be an extenContinued on Page 45