Attendance was sparse at the Oct. 1 meeting of the Farmingdale Village Board, however, trustees plowed through 19 items on the agenda in just under two hours.

First the board announced that the Meritts Road subdivision Public Hearing had again been adjourned a future meeting.

They then voted to approve a bid for improvements to the Northside Pocket Park. Fuschetto & Sons in Melville was awarded the project, as their bid of $58,670 came in for the lowest amount.

"Expenditure of this money comes from grant money acquired by Legislator Dave Mejias," Village Clerk Dave Smollett explained. "Since the park will cost more than the initial $40,000 we were granted, we will ask Legislator Mejias for the difference."

According to an arborist friend of Trustee Butch Starkie's, two red oak trees in the park are infested with carpenter ants and deemed unsafe. It was recommended they be removed.

"This was a case where we even asked if there was any way to treat them and the answer was no," Starkie said.

Department of Public Works Superintendent Fred Zamparelle hired an arborist to confirm that the two trees would have to be removed. Zamparelle said the arborist would remove the trees for his per diem price of around $900.

"He said it would take about a day and a half," Zamparelle said.

A landscape architect from Farmingdale State College put the park's design together.

"This pocket park is very consistent with the new vision and Master Plan," Building Superintendent Ron Craig said. "We're adding more green space, preserving almost a third of an acre of wooded area and adding a significant amount of new landscaping."

Glen Norjen was appointed to replace Lillian Kowalski as the Registrar of Vital Records. The registrar is responsible for birth and death certificates that occur within the village boundaries. Normally, the village clerk's office handles these requests, however the registrar is available whenever Village Hall is closed. This appointment is valid through April 2008.

"It is required for the village to have a duly sworn registrar," explained Smollett. "This is a process that has to be done in a very precise fashion."

The board then re-opened the public hearing on proposed local laws related to Business-D Zone. It was being continued from the Sept. 4 board meeting.

"This is an important topic that the board has been discussing," said Mayor George Graf.

The new proposals for this Business-D Zone include revamping the buildings on Main Street that currently have the clock tower on them. The proposal calls for creating mixed use buildings, with commercial storefronts on the first floor and apartments on the second and third floors. Another proposal is for eight single-family attached townhouses along Main and No. Front streets. Another proposed townhouse project is for 16 units along Main and Fulton streets. Both townhouses would be owner-occupied, next generation housing units. According to the board, all the proposals have been derived from visioning sessions and tie into the village's Master Plan.

"Vision Long Island is coming in with proposals that are really going to invigorate our village," Mayor Graf said. "They are really going to give our local economy a shot in the arm."

Trustee Starkie said the townhouse proposals meet all front, side and rear yard requirements.

The board then voted to continue the public hearing at the Nov. 5 meeting.

The Presumptive Local Law deals with the current local law regarding illegal occupancies. The local law extends the penalties set forth in the law to all non-permitted occupancies of dwellings. Currently the penalty section states penalties apply to non-permitted occupancies of one, two or three family dwellings.

"The new amendment would delete reference to specific family homes and extend it to include all occupancies," Village Attorney Kevin Walsh said.

The Good & Welfare portion of the evening focused on Rich Gosline's ongoing concerns regarding flooding on his street, Linwood Avenue. Gosline said he has written several letters to the village regarding this and at last month's meeting sought restitution for damage to his home and property during the August storm.

Mayor Graf said the board found correspondence between Gosline and the village dating back to 1999. Zamparelle said that during the 2002 road project, some additional catch basins were installed at Linwood Avenue and Arthur Street.

"More inlets were added for the water to flow, but size of the pipe was not increased," he explained. "I spoke to the county and they are going to come in and see if the pipes are adequate to dissipate the water faster. However I cannot tell you how long it will take for the county to come in and determine this."

Zamparelle added that he is also waiting to hear about the television camera unit to drop down into the pipe to see if there is any vegetation growth or if blockages caused the water to back up into the street.

"We are pursuing any and all areas at this point," he added.

Trustee Starkie said he has contacted Legislator Mejias' office about the problem and was supplied with a map of all the sumps in the area.

"I don't think you can get any more activity on this than you are right now," he added. "We are pretty much hearing something every day."

The Village Board approved the following events to be held in Farmingdale.

St. Luke's Lutheran Church will host a Flu Immunization Program on Monday, Oct. 22 from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. This program is being offered free of charge by the Nassau County Department of Health and is available to people ages 55 and older.

The Farmingdale Kiwanis Rag-a-Muffin Parade will be held on Saturday, Oct. 27 beginning at 1 p.m. at Northside Elementary School.

The Farmingdale Chamber of Commerce will hold its annual Holiday Parade on Saturday, Nov. 17 beginning at noon at Northside Elementary School.

The Village of Farmingdale will hold a work session on Monday, Oct. 15 at 6 p.m. Following the work session, Vision Long Island will make a presentation at 7:30 p.m. to update the board and residents about the village's visioning process. The next board of trustees meeting is on Monday, Nov. 5 at 7:30 p.m. All meetings are held at Village Hall. For more information call 249-0093 or visit www.farmingdalevillage.com.