The Village of Massapequa Park Board of Trustees, during its Oct. 16 meeting, passed a moratorium on the demolition and construction of buildings within the municipality's business district.

The moratorium, which will be in effect for a year, prohibits demolition and construction in the village's business G and GG zones. According to Mayor Camillo Giannattasio, the board will grant permission to business owners who wish to make renovations to their buildings during the moratorium. The intent of the measure, he said, is not to stop improvements, but to put a halt to development while the village works to devise a master plan for the area.

In passing the moratorium, the village is aiming to prevent development that would change the character of the downtown, such as the demolition of a row of stores to replace them with a large professional building. Within the next 30 days, administration will appoint either the village planning commission or an ad-hoc committee to work on a preliminary study for the development of a master plan, according to Giannattasio. The designated group will look at master plans from towns and villages around Long Island, and incorporate the best ideas into one for Massapequa Park, the mayor noted. "We're really not here to try to reinvent the wheel," he said, noting that the village wants to build on what has already worked for other areas.

The moratorium comes in the midst of an ongoing effort by administration to revitalize the village's downtown areas. The mayor and trustees focused much of the summer on the acquisition of the funds. Then last month, they announced that they had gathered $1.8 million in combined state grants, mostly won from state coffers by State Senator Charles Fuschillo, Jr., to revamp downtown areas and the Massapequa Park Train Station.

The mayor hopes the master plan, when ultimately completed, will incorporate the idea of establishing a stylistic theme throughout the village, such as a colonial look. "I would like to have a definitive type of look," said Giannattasio. He also wants to seek funds to implement a street revitalization program much like the one done by the Village of Farmingdale during the past five years. Farmingdale village officials recently completed the installation of red brick sidewalks, Victorian style lighting and benches on Main Street there, using a combination of state and federal grants. Giannattasio noted that Massapequa Park will also be seeking additional grants for such an effort.

Support for the moratorium and theme idea is not unanimous throughout village administration. The village board vote approving the moratorium in the Village of Massapequa Park was 4-1, with Trustee John O'Brien casting the sole dissenting vote.

O'Brien explained that he voted against the measure because he believes it is an added restriction on business owners that is not necessary.

"We don't have merchants out there who are doing things that are not in the best interest of the village," he said, noting that village code already contains restrictions that would prevent the wrong type of development, such as height and structural requirements. The existence of a moratorium could also be detrimental to merchants who may want to sell their businesses within the next year, he said, because it could discourage prospective buyers. O'Brien does not support the idea of a stylistic theme, because he believes the diverse look of the stores in the village is a strength.

Town of Oyster Bay Councilwoman Bonnie Eisler has voiced support for the establishment of a moratorium in the Village of Massapequa Park. She has stated that residents in both towns and villages can only benefit from such "time-outs" to allow time for the development of a master plan, which are needed to ensure good long-range planning. Eisler has been promoting the concept of a moratorium and master plan for the town as well. The town has already gotten the process started for a master plan; a consultant has begun preliminary work on the plan, which is expected to be complete in 2002. And at Eisler's urging, the town is considering a six-month moratorium on lot area variances, if the result of these variances creates new building lots that do not meet normal zoning standards.

O'Brien said a moratorium is a good idea for the town, because it encompasses so many different zoning areas, which are widely spread out, but not necessary for the village, which is small and centralized.