Dering Harbor meeting cut short by mayor
In an unexpected move at the September 19, 9 a.m. meeting of the Village of Dering Harbor’s Board of Trustees, Mayor Tim Hogue opened the meeting with a motion to meet in executive session to discuss a “matter of possible litigation.”
About 10 minutes later, village attorney Joe Prokop spoke from notes in making a statement regarding the Brad Goldfarb/Alfredo Paredes ongoing dispute with the village regarding whether or not the perimeter of their property belongs to them or to the village.
Mr. Prokop said he wanted to make it clear that the problem was not the village’s. The problem had to do with the title and that was the owners’ problem. He went on to say that “real estate is an exact science,” of which titles were an integral part.
Submitting old maps and the threat of litigation were not a solution to the problem. “The village has done its homework,” he said, and the situation would not be changed by “blustering.”
Following the meeting, one of the attorneys for Mr. Goldfarb and Mr. Paredes, Valerie Marvin, had this comment: “You can’t change the facts by making statements.” “It’s a shame,” she added, “that the village and owners were not able to work cooperatively.”
Mr. Hogue cut short discussion on this and other agenda topics because he said one of the trustees had to leave in 30 minutes — by 9:30 a.m. Bill Unger complained from the audience that the residents should be informed in advance if the meeting was being curtailed and residents’ comments cut off.
Mr. Hogue said he didn’t disagree but, in answer to other comments by Mr. Unger, he indicated that public participation in trustees’ meetings was not necessarily a given and that while he has been “flexible” in the past, regarding residents’ comments and questions, the way to ensure being on the agenda was to contact the village clerk in advance.
In other business:
• Noise ordinance: The proposed public hearing on a revised noise ordinance was postponed because of the curtailed meeting schedule.
• Hedges: Mayor Hogue said he was still working on building consensus among residents of Shore Road about voluntarily restricting the height of waterside hedges to 4 feet — a more desirable outcome than passing a law, he said.
• Dering Woods Lane LLC application: A new application, based on a revised set of plans, is pending.
• Zoning: A preliminary request has been received from resident Ann Boylan to change the zoning code to include separate provisions for minor, as opposed to major subdivisions.
The next regular meeting of the village trustees is scheduled for October 17 at the board’s off-season starting hour of 10 a.m.ARCHER BROWN
