After being forced to delay a vote for the past two months, the East Hills Board of Trustees has unanimously approved a building moratorium on new construction and certain renovations throughout the residential areas in the Roslyn area's largest village.

The BOT had begun considering the moratorium in February. However, a vote was delayed while the village awaited approval of the plan from the Nassau County Planning Commission. County law stipulates that villages submit any amendments to their zoning codes to the commission before making a final vote.

The law will place a temporary moratorium on residential and commercial construction in the village and on additions of 25 percent or more to the floor area of existing dwellings.

Last month, Village Attorney Gerard Terry said the moratorium, if enacted, would be in effect for "several months." During that time, the village BOT may consider significant amendments to the zoning code to restrict the bulk and height of any new houses being constructed in East Hills.

Enactment of the law was inspired, in part, by instances of overbuilding in the village. Mayor Michael Koblenz admitted that some contractors have wanted to buy a property in East Hills and then build a house "three times the size" as other houses in the same neighborhood. "We want the neighborhood to stay the way it is," the mayor said last month, explaining his support for the moratorium.

While considering the moratorium measure, the village also hired a consulting firm to look at bulk and height issues. In addition, the village began evaluating land lot ratios, the height of buildings and subdivisions, all in an attempt to prevent builders from overbuilding on a lot.

The building moratorium in East Hills is part of a trend in the Roslyn area, one that began five years ago with the Stop & Shop controversy in Roslyn Village. After a pro-Stop & Shop administration was defeated in local Roslyn elections in early 1995, the newly-elected Board of Trustees drafted and enacted a comprehensive Master Plan and Zoning Code for Roslyn, one that has withstood court challenges from LCS Realty Inc., the company which hoped to build the supermarket in Roslyn.

Earlier this year, residents in Roslyn Heights lobbied for and received permission from the Town of North Hempstead to have historic district status conferred on their neighborhood in the Elm and Willow Streets section of the village. The destruction, for subdivision purposes, of two older homes in that neighborhood started the grass roots effort. More recently, residents on Donaldson Place, also in Roslyn Heights, successfully opposed an attempt by a local contractor to subdivide a lot on their block; a lot that fell short of required zoning code plot sizes.