Village of Mineola Mayor Jack M. Martins plans to continue to forge ahead with the village's lawsuit against Nassau County until the county can present a feasible plan for parking when the county sells the Social Services building as well as the parking lot south of the Supreme Court building located in the county seat.

The mayor fears that once the county property is sold to a real estate developer, those who commute to the court, will park in the Village of Mineola once the parking lot that serves the court is closed.

Mayor Martins said the village had been negotiating a settlement with the county on a parking plan. However, the mayor read in the April 26 edition of the New York Law Journal that the county had moved to create a family court facility at or adjacent to the county court complex in Mineola.

"One of the predicates for us negotiating [a parking plan] was that they would not bring a family court in. We specifically asked them, do you plan to bring in a family court? They said no," Mayor Martins said.

The mayor plans to meet with representatives from the county this week. He is hopeful that the county will come up with a proposal that makes sense and takes the family court into account.

From the part of the county's real estate consolidation plan, the county stands to win by getting revenue from the sale of the land; the Village of Garden City and the Garden City School District stands to win by getting the tax revenue on the real estate development that will be built. But Mayor Martins feels the Village of Mineola stands to lose since Mineola may get all the vehicles that need to park for the court complexes, both the Supreme Court and now possibly the Family Court. The mayor is therefore prepared to take action with the lawsuit that was filed earlier this year.

The village board voted unanimously to discontinue Station Road, between Third and Fourth Avenues, as a public thoroughfare in accordance with the Mineola Intermodal Center, a 1,000-car parking garage and bus depot that will be built by the MTA south of the railroad tracks and north of the KeySpan building, which is located on Old Country Road.

The MTA needs Station Road between Third and Fourth Avenues for its new bus depot, which will be located underneath the Intermodal parking garage, and bus traffic. Buses will exit to Old Country Road off Fourth Avenue. The current bus depot is located on Third Street between Mineola Boulevard.

As part of the agreement struck between the MTA and the village, the MTA, because it is taking title of Station Road between Third and Fourth Avenues, will be reopening, resurfacing and reconstructing Third Street between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue to be used as a public thoroughfare.

In addition, there is expected to be an outlet so that if anyone enters Third Street from Mineola Boulevard, they can make a right on Third Avenue, then a right on Station Road and continue to circulate back onto Third Street to gain access to the station.

Along with the swap of roads, the village will also be getting $650,000.

Before the village board can discontinue a street, it must first hold a public hearing. That hearing was held May 11. If the board didn't vote to discontinue the road, the MTA could have taken it by eminent domain.

The village board also passed a local law that passes the cost for plan review and legal review or any other professionals or studies that may be needed for real estate projects on to real estate developers instead of being paid by the taxpayers of Mineola.

"This allows us the opportunity to take an expense off the backs of our taxpayers and place it where it should be, on the developers," said Mayor Jack M. Martins.

"Our building is badly overworked. What this is going to do is give the building department the ability to outsource some of the plan review at no cost to the taxpayers," said Deputy Mayor Larry Werther.

The local law also states that if there is any action required by the planning board, the planning board has an opportunity to hear the action before the building department issues a permit.

Mayor Martins, Trustee Werther, Trustee Linda Fairgrieve, Trustee Paul Cusato and Trustee John DaVanzo also expressed support for the law, which was deemed a common-sense law.