This letter is a continuation of our letter published earlier relating to our zoning board of appeals. In that letter our principal complaints were 1) no timely, appropriate notice; 2) no right for respondent to request an adjournment for good cause shown when only three members of the board are present; 3) hearing zoning cases in July and August when most people are on vacation; 4) having no public calendar which would permit a respondent to assess when one's case might be heard.

Now we shall continue with the litany of complaints. Since we were the second case on the calendar on July 25 and there were many others, we did not wait for the determinations to be made openly after deliberations in executive session. On July 26, when we called the village clerk for the board's findings and conclusions we were verbally advised that the petition was "unconditionally granted." Later that day when a copy of the determination was obtained pursuant to the Freedom of Information Law (FOIL), imagine having to file a FOIL request to obtain a finding and conclusion in your litigated case, it contained the words "Unconditionally granted."

The New York State Village Law, based upon decided cases, requires findings of fact and conclusions of law. The purpose of the law is to permit the litigant to determine whether the issues were properly decided with reason.

In addition, if an article 78 appeal to the Nassau County Supreme Court were taken within the required 30 days, it would probably inform the court whether the matter had been properly decided. "Unconditionally granted" tells the parties and the appellate court nothing of value.

When it was insisted that such a finding was inadequate and further finding and conclusions were demanded, we were advised by the village clerk's office that we could obtain a copy by calling the court stenographer. We did. We were advised that we could obtain a copy for $30.

Due process requires that every litigant be furnished the findings and conclusions. To require that a party to litigation pay $30 to obtain a copy of the findings and conclusions is the height of insensitivity as well as a violation of legal rights.

In addition, the stenographer stated that she could not guarantee that I would receive the findings and conclusions within the 30 day appeal period, because of her busy workload.

I finally received the findings on Aug. 14, 11 days before the time to file the appeal plan. They were not really findings and conclusions.

Joseph Calamari