The Incorporated Village of Massapequa Park on Monday unanimously voted to withdraw its lawsuit against a couple who ignored the municipality's denial of a boat lift permit, leaving residents who opposed the boat lift stumped.

The village had sued Mario and Diane Sonzone in the spring, after the couple went ahead with a project to install a boat lift in the canal behind their home on Harbor Lane, despite the municipality's rejection of a permit for the work. The permit denial was issued after neighbors voiced opposition to the boat lift, saying it would impede navigation, during a public hearing called by the village.

Village Attorney Robert Leff would not comment on the case when contacted this week, saying that the matter had not yet been resolved in the courts.

However, the attorney for the Sonzones, Genevieve Lane LoPresti of the law firm Cositore and LoPresti of Freeport, said the municipality was forced to withdraw the suit because she has proof it does not have jurisdiction over the canal.

LoPresti said that in accordance with the Andros Patent, the underwater land behind the Sonzones' home is deeded from Long Island's Native Americans to the Town of Oyster Bay, and that the village has been regulating it illegally.

She noted that once she discovered this, her firm commenced an Article 78 against the village, which seeks the annulment of a determination of a legislative body.

In addition to not owning the underwater land, the village does not have the authority to regulate the waterway, said LoPresti. Therefore, the attorney said she also sought a declaratory judgement action seeking to declare section 90-12 of the village code, which declares that the Village Board must approve any plan to place pilings in a residential AA zone, to be invalid because the village is pre-empted by the federal and state governments. The basis for this, she said, is that the federal and state governments regulate the navigable waterways. She noted that in the counties of Nassau and Suffolk, the federal and state governments have given the town governments the authority to regulate the navigable waterways. "The town is the only legislative body that can regulate that area - not the village," said LoPresti.

In response to filing of the Article 78, the village brought on an injunction proceeding, in which they sought to prohibit the Sonzones from bringing any boats onto their property, according to LoPresti. Pending the court's decision on that suit, the village had also obtained a temporary restraining order to stop the Sonzone's from using the electrical lines on their property, but LoPresti's firm got that removed during oral argument, she said. Following that, LoPresti said, she was told by the village that they would be withdrawing the injunction proceeding and granting Mario Sonzone a permit. "It's a permit that he doesn't even need," added LoPresti.

When the village denied the permit for the boat lift, they cited concerns that the structure would threaten the public's health and safety, and that it would impede navigation. Residents who opposed the project at the public hearing expressed similar concerns. However, LoPresti feels her client's boat lift application was singled out for scrutiny. "Nobody else has had to go to a public hearing prior to Mr. Sonzone, and as a matter of fact, someone who filed their application after him didn't even have to go to a public hearing," she said.

After the board decided to withdraw the suit at Monday's village board meeting, Mayor Camillo Giannattassio said only: "We, the village board, are voting to discontinue this lawsuit based on our attorney's advice, which is based on the specific facts of this specific case. Further, based upon our attorney's advice, and because the lawsuit is still officially pending, we will not comment further at this time."

Although resident John Daufeldt, representing residents who had previously spoken out against the boat lift project, asked Giannattassio to comment further, the mayor declined.

"I'd like to find out, sir, why are you swimming backwards on this item. You asked the neighborhood for their input, you wrote letters to all of us. We replied. I'm the only one who came tonight because they didn't want to see you swimming backwards, but they asked me to find out what's happening here," said Daufeldt.

The mayor responded, "At this point in time - as much as I would like to make a comment on it, and I will make a specific statement with reference to this suit as soon as it is terminated and all other litigation involved with this is over - until that time, based on [Village Attorney Robert Leff's] advice, we will not be making any comment."

Also without explanation, the board then removed from the agenda two items that would have set up public hearings for one resident's boat lift project and another's bulkhead resurfacing.

The conflict between the village and the Sonzones seems to be far from over. LoPresti said she plans to sue the municipality for damages caused to her client's property due to the village's interference in the work at their property. "What happened was, he couldn't proceed with any of the work, and now, all of a sudden, his property starts separating," said LoPresti. "So he's got about $50,000 worth of damages just for the property to be rebuilt."

Commenting on the village's withdrawal of the suit, Mario Sonzone said, "I think they realize that they made a mistake, and they're just trying to make restitution. But, issuing me the permit, I really feel is not doing me any justice, because I really don't need the permit."

He added that permits from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation are all that are needed to do such work as installing boat lifts and bulkheads, although the village has been regulating this. "It's not just the boat lifts. The village has been issuing permits for bulkheads, and everything else, and it's really not their call to issue it," Sonzone said. "I think basically, as long as you have the [permits from] Army Corps and DEC, that's all that's required. And I think people are going to start looking into what's necessary."