It was over a year ago, in February 2005, that Mineola Mayor Jack M. Martins stood in the parking lot on the south side of the Nassau County Supreme Court building in the County Seat to announce a lawsuit against the county. The suit claimed the county, which planned to sell the parcel of land for development, didn't follow the correct protocols including formulating a parking plan to take the place of the parking lot used for the courts the county was planning to sell. It turns out the court agreed with the mayor and the village's position as State Supreme Court Justice Charles J. Thomas handed down a decision that stated the county failed to act within the requirements set forth in the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA).

Mayor Martins received a unanimous resolution by the village board of trustees to commence the lawsuit with attorney John Gibbons of the firm Spellman Rice Schure Gibbons McDonough & Polizzi arguing that the sale of the land should be halted until the county came up with an adequate parking plan.

As part of the county's real estate consolidation plan, the county planned to demolish existing county-owned buildings and sell nine parcels of county-owned land totaling 35.07 acres, located in Westbury, Garden City and Mineola. The land would be sold to allow private developers to construct new residential and commercial developments. The county would then consolidate and relocate its departments and the courts from the sold sites to new campuses and complexes. In addition, the county intended to move the Family Court, Matrimonial Court and the Probation Department, currently located in the Town of Hempstead and Garden City, to the Courts Complex in Mineola at or adjacent to the existing County Court building.

Among the properties to be sold is 101 County Seat Drive, which is on the south side of the Supreme Court building. The property includes Parking Fields 14, 17 and 18, which are utilized by employees, visitors and litigants to the County Court Complex.

Mayor Martins feared that the lack of the parking plan to replace the parking that was to be taken away as a result of the sale of land may have a negative impact on the Village of Mineola. The mayor believed that the vehicles would end up parking on the streets of Mineola. "In the absence of that [parking] plan, these cars are going to end up in our downtown," said Mayor Martins during a February 2005 press conference.

The judge agreed with village's position. "The cumulative impacts on all such planned moves on the availability of parking in the village must be considered," stated Judge Thomas in his decision granting Mineola petition.

In addition to the judge's finding that the county failed to comply with the requirements set for in SEQRA, the decision also voids the adoption of a Findings Statement accepted by the Nassau County Planning Commission on Nov. 18, 2004 and orders that the county comply with SEQRA.

Mayor Martins was pleased with the decision. "The law is being upheld. The laws apply to everyone. They were made to protect the residents of the area," the mayor said.

Because of the decision, the county must go through the process of determining whether its plan including the sale of the parking fields will have an environmental impact on surrounding areas. The county planned to go ahead with the plan without recognizing the possibility of a negative impact on the Village of Mineola, which is why, Mayor Martins said, the village commenced a lawsuit.