At its most recent meeting, the East Hills Board of Trustees approved a recommendation by Mayor Michael R. Koblenz to appoint an outside, independent counsel to review the "record, the documents, and exhibits presented to the [East Hills] Planning Board" with respect to their granting parking lot expansion for L'Endroit Restaurant.

The firm of Wechsler, Bursky & Cohen was appointed by the BOT. Mayor Koblenz asked that a final report be available within 45 days to "ensure that the rights of the applicant are...not prejudiced."

At the East Hills BOT meeting last Tuesday night, the mayor gave a brief overview of the controversy.

From 1992 to 1994, L'Endroit sought a "sizeable" second floor expansion on the south part of its property. This expansion plan was rejected by the Board of Appeals. However, last year, the restaurant submitted a new proposal, this one with a scaled down second floor to be built on the north side of the building. Last month, the village Planning Board granted approval for the plan, following, as the mayor noted, "multiple changes to the plan and the imposition of numerous conditions on the applicant."

But with that decision, came public opposition, especially from residents in the Red Ground community and members of its civic association.

The main question has always been whether L'Endroit is expanding onto commercial or residential property. The mayor also noted that civic association leaders claim that zoning residential district boundary line was 10 feet into the DeSousa residential property. An engineer engaged by the Planning Board reported that the zoning business district was approximately eight feet into the Jacknis property.

The mayor called these discrepancies a "critical issue because if any of the DeSousa property is...zoned residential it could not be properly used as part of the site plan that was adopted by the Planning Board."

At the request of the Red Ground Civic Association, the BOT asked the Planning Board to review the entire issue. Once the Planning Board declined, the matter, the mayor added, was returned to the village Building Department for further review in anticipation of an application to the Board of Appeals for one or more variances.

With the matter now with the Building Department, the mayor's and the BOT has jurisdiction over the case. Claiming he and the BOT had "heard the concerns of the community loud and clear" the independent counsel was approved.

The report from the independent counsel will be made available to both the BOT and the Building Department. This way, Mayor Koblenz said, the dispute over the location of the zoning district boundary line will be "properly resolved" by the Board of Appeals pursuant to current village codes.

Mayor Koblenz hastened to add that the appointment does not cast "any negative reflections" on the Planning Board. The BOT is only seeking an "objective definite report" on the issue.