The creation of an East Norwich Park District will be the subject of a Tuesday, Jan. 22 public hearing by the Oyster Bay Town Board.

It is to initiate the procedure for the creation of an East Norwich Park District said Town Councilman Joe Muscarella in a press release. "The board is trying to determine if there is sufficient interest among East Norwich residents for the creation of a special park district," he said.

A town spokesperson explained that by law, when creating a new taxing district, they must have a public hearing. The public is not expected to vote on the issue.

Matthew Meng, president of the East Norwich Civic Association was concerned about the hearing. He received the notice and wondered what the town board expected of the local citizenry. Did they expect to see a great assembly or residents clamoring for a park?

"As a civic leader do I have to rally the community to attend? What do they mean by sufficient? What are we looking to do here?

"I'm not happy at this time. The ENCA has been asking the town to do the right thing from prior boards. This, the formal designation of Goat Hill is taking 31 years in the making and if it has to go before the residents to create a park system, this should have been done then. We are not blaming this board, but they have had a year and a half notice to investigate and do this and they have yet to come up with a conclusive answer," said Mr. Meng.

He was also concerned about the possible expense to the civic association. "Look at the island in the rear of Blueberries. We built the island with the approval of the landlord with a sign saying 'do not enter,'" he explained.

The area behind Blueberries was poorly designed and did not indicate how traffic into the back parking lot should travel safely. The new island tries to make clear what the driving guidelines are. "There will be flowers and plants put there in the spring. That island cost the civic association $2,000 and we have $1,000 left to notify 1,300 residents of the hearing. Paying for postage at 21 cents each, takes money.

"If they come back and say it's not a park, I want them to show the evidence," he said.

"The whole thing leaves me in a quandry. No one comes out unless the public is alerted to the need," he said.

The town spokesperson was vague stating that the proposed park district would contain whatever parkland is available in East Norwich. There is only Goat Hill; the triangle at 25A and Split Rock Road; and a small triangle at Sugar Tom's Lane and Route 106 that is open land in the unincorporated village. Chelsea and the Muttontown Preserve belong to the county.

When asked about taxes for a park district, the spokesperson said they are based on how many people are in the district and what the assessed valuation would be and whatever the residents want the park to contain. "It could be a passive park which would incur virtually no expense except for maintenance. I don't know what group absorbs that: if the park department takes care of that," said the spokesperson.

"This hearing is to find out if they are interested and to see what they want in the district and based on that to see if the board will create a district."

It is good to note that the town board operates on the view that there is a public hearing where the people can speak and then the town board makes their decision based on that. There is not a second discussion: no recap.

This is the chance for the people to make their voices heard, said a town spokesperson.

At that same Jan. 22 meeting, starting at 7 p.m., the town of Oyster Bay will be discussing their hamlet plan, the proposed Lizza development plan and a public hearing for a six month moratorium on development in the vicinity of Buckram Road in Locust Valley. For more information about the town's plan you can see a copy at the library or check into their website: www.oysterbaytown.com.