The Village of Mineola Mayor and Board of Trustees held their first public hearing on the village's master plan, a 70-page document outlining where the village currently is and where it will be going in the future.

The plan, which is available at the Mineola Memorial Library and village hall and may soon be available online, took six years to complete. It is broken down into sections addressing key elements in the village such as neighborhoods, parking, transportation and the downtown. The plan contains suggestions on where the village may want to go in the future with regards to issues such as zoning.

Village attorney John Spellman has played a key part in the process of developing the master plan along with planning consultant John Shapiro of Phillips Preiss Shapiro Associates in Manhattan and the community planning committee led by former mayor Bob Hinck. Spellman said the master plan would be used as a road map to guide the village into the future.

Future hearings will be planned for the board to review the master plan and for members of the public to give input as well as ask questions. Issues such as zoning amendments and the environmental impact of possible changes in the village as part of the master plan will be considered.

The next public hearing on the master plan will take place on Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2006 at 7 p.m. at village hall. At that hearing, the board will consider the adoption of the master plan.

The board plans to have hearings dedicated to certain parts of the master plan instead of having hearings dedicated to the entire plan. This way, the public and the board will take a comprehensive look at the plan and the suggestions in it.

Some of the elements of the master plan that were brought up at the first hearing included creating senior housing and exploring a connector between Second Street and Westbury Avenue. Trustee John DaVanzo suggested the village address parking and traffic patterns first, since that is a pressing issue in the village.

Not all of the suggestions in the master plan will be implemented and some may see one idea as good for the village while others may not. But Mayor Jack M. Martins said the process will only work with input from residents and the business community.