The residents of the Village of North Hills registered their public comments on mapping freshwater wetland for the site of Chatham at North Hills II, the proposed condominium development for that village. Residents were invited to comment on whether or not that development should be given wetlands designation.

In June the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation held a public hearing on wetlands designation. All public comments were directed towards DEC officials. According to spokesmen for that agency, there were as of June 22, 13 public comments registered.

Staff members for the DEC will review the written comments, along with other considerations. After that, they will make their own recommendations in mapping out the wetland area.

The staff will then 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.

All along, the Village of North Hills has remained neutral on the application by the developer, North Hills Holding LLC.

However, the development has run into opposition from several environmental groups, including the North Shore Alliance (NSLA), which is basing their opposition on environmental concerns, but also the issue of restrictive covenants.

In fact, a "North Hills Wetlands Amendment Information Sheet," one prepared by DEC personnel, notes that "the Department has been contacted by various environmental groups and individuals that have expressed concern for the wetlands and their surrounding adjacent area."

DEC personnel acknowledge that "expressed local interest is demonstrated by its [the land area in question] inclusion in the North Hills Special Groundwater Protection Area Plan as open space."

DEC officials also acknowledge that the North Hills site does warrant environmental investigation.

"During a State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) review of an Environmental Impact Statement for a project in North Hills, the New York Natural Heritage Program reported that there was an unusual forest community that contained a wetland on the site," the DEC report states. "Regional Habitat staff investigated the described wetland as part of the SEQRA review. The wetland was determined to qualify as a wetland of unusual local importance as a result of that investigation."

In addition, DEC officials note that the North Hills wetlands lie within the North Hills Special Groundwater Protection Area. According to DEC officials, the authors of that designation have described the forest where the wetlands are located---Grace Forest---as an ecologically significant woodland. "Conserving open space is recommended in special groundwater protection areas to preserve aquifer quality," the DEC report said.

Finally, the report states in accepting or rejecting nominations, the DEC commissioner "shall ... take into account the expressed local interest."

The report also notes that the North Hills wetlands lies within an urban area and that the location of such wetlands are "important considerations in determining benefits of particular wetlands as open space and for recreational, aesthetic, and educational purposes ... [The] rarer the wetlands are, the more valuable the aesthetic and open space benefits are. Wetlands in a town with less than [one percent] wetland coverage have important open space and aesthetic benefits."

For their part, NSLA members claim that in order to build on the proposed property, the developers would have to overturn a "restrictive covenant," which they claim was intended to preserve Grace Forest "in perpetuity."

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.