The village board scheduled a public hearing for Oct. 26 at 8 p.m. to consider rezoning the east side vacant property on Whitewood Dr. to a Golden Age Housing Zone. The board cleared the way for Golden Age housing in Massapequa Park when it passed a law allowing for it at its Sept. 14 public meeting.

The new law allows for a Golden Age district not to exceed 2.5 acres in the Village. The district would be reserved for affordable housing for individuals or couples with at least one partner 62 years of age or older. Village residents would have first pick at buying units and second priorty would go to residents of Massapequa Union Free School District 23. Third priorty would go to Town of Oyster Bay residents.

The Oct. 26 hearing will be to determine whether the Whitewood property owned by Whitewood Landing LLC, would be appropriate for Golden Age housing.

The Massapequa Park Village Board voted in favor of erecting stop signs on Avoca Ave. at Brooklyn Ave and Carol Ave. at its Monday, Oct. 5 meeting at Village Hall. The purpose of the new stop signs would be to slow down the traffic on the avenue.

A handful of Avoca Ave. residents attended the public hearing to communicate how important they felt the signs are to maintain the safety of the area's children as well as to discourage drivers from using the area's roads as an alternative route to Sunrise.

Following the second public hearing of the evening, the board voted unanimously to establish a special assessment district for curb and sidewalk repairs on Charles Ave. from Clark Blvd. to Pennsylvania Ave. and on Eastlake Ave. between Pittsburg Ave. and Cypress St. The special assessment district would allow the village to legally collect money from residents who are getting curb cuts for the first time in front of their homes. According to Superintendent of Public Works William Colfer, the reconstruction will not begin until April of 1999.

In an action which village attorney Robert Leff said would soon be moot, the village board voted at its Oct. 5 meeting to commence a lawsuit against Caroline Nicholson, owner of the Massapequa Funeral Home and the northerly portion of the vacant Whitewood Drive and Merrick Rd. property.

The lawsuit was originally filed to force the Nicholsons to comply with the village's request to surrender a deed for an 8 by 100 foot parcel of the land to be converted into a turning lane when the land is developed as required by Local Law No. 3 of 1991. Although, the Nicholsons have complied with its request to surrender the deed, the village is awaiting some documentation needed to finalize the matter which according to Leff, was expected within days of the meeting. In the meantime, the village decided not to squash the lawsuit until all the documentation necessary is filed by the Nicholsons. Mayor George Nussbaum said at the meeting that it was the "only way to protect the village."

The lawsuit was originally initiated in June but was delayed, when the New York State Supreme Court said the board had to vote to commence the suit in a open public meeting in order to be valid. The deadline to publicly vote on the lawsuit before it's thrown out by the Supreme Court is up in mid-October, prior to the next village meeting.

At the Oct. 5 public meeting of Massapequa Park Village Board, a village resident and member of the Bar Harbour Civic Association criticized the association's board members for submitting a misleading and inaccurate petition at the Aug. 25 public hearing. The hearing was to consider the rezoning of the northerly property on Whitewood Dr. and Merrick Ave to include a funeral home as a possible use for the vacant land. The village voted in favor of the zone change.

Still, according to Arlien Werner, the petition submitted to show the community's disapproval of having a funeral home built on the property, was in fact a combination of signatures collected on two different topics. She said five of the 10 pages submitted are petitions requesting a more comprehensive analysis by independent consultants before any action is taken. Although, the sheets don't specify what action is in question, Werner said she believes it pertains to the possibility of Golden Age cooperatives being built on Whitewood. Although, Werner was in support of Massapequa Funeral Home owners', plan to open a funeral home on Whitewood, her signature was included with the petition submitted in oppostition of it on Aug. 25.

The remaining five pages of signatures, taken in August, were in protest of the change of zone to allow the building of a funeral home on Whitewood and Merrick.

Werner said the reason why she felt it was important to point out the discrepancy was to ensure that the petition would not be used at further hearings on the subject and to clarify that her name should not be associated with any petition against the Nicholsons, the owners of Massapequa Funeral Home and a portion of the Whitewood Dr. property.

James Altadonna, president of Bar Harbour Civic association, said if or when the issue of the funeral home comes up again, new petitions might be drawn up and in that case more attention would be paid to any details that may have been in question.

Village Mayor George Nussbaum said the board took the petitions in good faith and proceeded to vote the way they believed it should. "In the future, when we receive petitions, we'll have to scrutinize them a little further," he added.