Last Thursday evening, June 2, the Village of North Hills Board of Trustees held a public hearing on the status of Chatham at North Hills II, a proposed condominium development for that village.

From now until Wednesday, June 22, the village will be accepting public comments on the project for the purpose of whether the development should be given wetlands designation. The Village of North Hills is located at 1 Shelter Rock Road. Its business hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

After that date, staff members for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation will review the written comments after which they will make their own recommendations in mapping out the wetland area.

The staff will send their recommendations to Denise Sheehan, the acting DEC chairman. Ms. Sheehan will then make her own decision on granting the area in question a wetlands designation. According to a DEC spokesman, that decision should come by the end of September.

According to a village spokesman, the Village of North Hills is "neutral" on the application. Village trustees are waiting for the DEC to make its decision on the application. The DEC may ask the developer, in this case, North Hills Holding LLC, to revise the application or they may accept it as it currently has been drafted.

The North Shore Alliance (NSLA) is opposing the development. NSLA members said their opposition is based on two factors: Environmental concerns and the issue of restrictive covenants.

According to NSLA members, the development, if approved, would be built on an 18.4-acre parcel known as Grace Forest. In order to build there, developers, NSLA members claim, would have to overturn a "restrictive covenant," which they claim was intended to preserve Grace Forest "in perpetuity."

Also according to NSLA members, the board may overturn the covenant in return for what it terms as "cash payments from the developer." NSLA members acknowledge that New York State law allows for such covenants to be overturned by local municipalities.

Still, NSLA members have also noted that in the most recent November elections, area residents voted to approve a Nassau County Open Space Bond, one intended to preserve natural areas.

NSLA members claim that the North Hills wetlands, which covers the southern portion of the parcel, lies atop one of the only two Special Groundwater Protection Areas in Nassau County.

Furthermore, the NSLA claims that such open space is needed to provide groundwater recharge, "which is critical to protect the deep flow aquifers which supply Long Island's drinking water."

Finally, Grace Forest, according to NSLA members, is an "ecologically significant wetland," home to "many rare and old growth trees," a place that "provides a habitat for many species of plants and birds."

Elizabeth Remsen, a NSLA associate director, said her organization is not opposed to development on the North Shore. "We're not an adversary foe," she said. "We're trying to work with trustees and builders. There has to be growth on Long Island. We want to strike a balance between preservation and growth."