Those who own legal two-family homes may want to make note of the date of Feb. 11. On that date, the Village of Mineola will hold a hearing to receive input on amending its recently passed rental registration law to include legal two-family homes.

The village recently passed a rental registration law, requiring landlords of apartments in apartment buildings and above stores to register those apartments with the village, which would then conduct inspections of those apartments to make sure there is no overcrowding and that safe conditions exist.

The rental registration law requires landlords to pay a fee. Failure to register an apartment will result in a fine to the landlord.

During the public hearing for the rental registration law in December, Village Trustees Lou Santosus, Linda Fairgrieve and Steve Franzini suggested looking into including two-family homes in the rental registration law.

If the village decided to amend the rental registration law to include two-family homes, then owners of those homes would also have to register the homes with the village.

Although Mineola Mayor Jack M. Martins scheduled the hearing, he isn't in favor of including two-family homes in the rental registration law. Mayor Martins feels that such an amendment would only penalize owners of legal two-family homes.

In the case of apartments above stores and apartment buildings, the rental registration law can be enforced since the location of those apartments is apparent. However, the locations of two-family homes are less obvious. Therefore, the village would be relying on village homeowners to come forward to register their apartments.

Mayor Martins feels that those who maintain illegal two-family homes would not register their apartments. The only ones who would register their apartments are those who have legal two-family homes. The mayor feels that the village would be penalizing those who own legal two-family homes by causing them to register their apartments, pay a fee and have their apartments inspected.

Despite the mayor's objection, he did schedule a hearing to hear public input. Trustees Santosus, Fairgrieve and Franzini also want to hear what the public has to say on the matter to see if it is a matter that is worth pursuing.

In addition to this hearing, the village will also hold a hearing on an application to open a Panera Bread eatery at 530 Jericho Turnpike.

• The village recently changed its parking meters from 25 cents per hour to 25 cents per half hour. The village also plans on adding meters to Jericho Turnpike, Willis Avenue and Mineola Boulevard. Mineola Chamber of Commerce President Carmela Bernacchio tells the Mineola American that some businesses aren't happy with the decision to put additional meters on those roads while some are. Bernacchio said the businesses would be working with the village to try to address individual problems.

Putting in additional meters could prove to be beneficial for some businesses since it will prevent cases in which motorists may park their vehicles in front of a business and then make the trek into Manhattan. Meters may prevent this from happening so that more spots will be available for the customers of local businesses. Of course, there is another theory that customers may not want to pay to park in order to go shopping and may opt to shop at a mall or strip of stores in which there is a parking lot.

• At the public meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 21, the village plans on discussing the independent audit recently completed on the village's 2002-2003 fiscal year budget. Mayor Martins was hoping to have the audit on Monday. He said he would give copies to the other trustees so that the audit could be discussed in public at the meeting. The work session will begin at 6:30 p.m. with the public meeting to follow at 7:30 p.m. Village Hall is located at 155 Washington Avenue.

• The village board did vote to amend its code when it comes to fines for overcrowding in apartments. When the board enacted the rental registration law, one of its concerns was that there was overcrowding in the mixed-use buildings and multiple dwellings that needed to be addressed. However, according to Mayor Martins, the penalties that exist in the code for overcrowding do not reflect the same penalty schedule that exists for building code violations. The board felt it was important to amend the code so that penalties for overcrowding are now punishable by up to $2,000 instead of $250 per violation. The penalties for overcrowding in an apartment are now in line with penalties for building code violations. The amendment also gives the recently passed rental registration law more teeth.

• The village board also voted to amend its commercial vehicle law. Currently, the village has a law forbidding residents from parking commercial vehicles either on residential streets or in driveways overnight in areas that are zoned for residential use. However, the law does not exist in commercial zones. However, there are residential homes that exist in commercially-zoned areas. Those homes would have been exempt from the law.

The village board, however, voted to amend the law to include residential homes in commercially-zoned areas, closing the loophole in the law. It is now unlawful to have a commercial vehicle in the driveway of a residential home overnight even if that home is in a commercially-zoned area. Closing this loophole will prevent owners of homes in commercially-zoned areas from renting out their driveways for the parking of commercial vehicles.

However, in the event that there is a variance granted for someone, for example, to put a motor home on the property, this amendment would not affect such a circumstance.