The Town of North Hempstead Board of Zoning Appeals will be adding alternate members to serve on the board when sitting members are absent in order to prevent delays in applications.
“We would not want to be in a position that a business owner or resident is not able to have their application heard because of the absence of a BZA member,” Town Supervisor Jennifer DeSena said. “It’s a contingency that I think is useful.”
The North Hempstead Town Board voted to implement the alternates, but there was not a consensus among board members.
The board voted 4-2 to add Zoning Board alternates, with Democrat Council Members Robert Troiano and Mariann Dalimonte voting against it. Council Member Christine Liu was not present at the meeting.
Alternate members would only serve in the instance where a regular Zoning Board member could not attend the meeting.
Town Attorney Richard Nicolello said this would ensure a quorum on the board, preventing meetings from being canceled and ensuring a full board is present to review applications.
Troiano did not elaborate on his “no” vote, saying his reasoning was the same as he had expressed at a prior meeting.
He said at the Jan. 14 public hearing that he was concerned alternate members would disrupt the continuity of public hearings if different members were hearing and acting on a certain application.
Deputy Town Attorney Deborah Algios addressed this at the January meeting. She said alternates would still be responsible to read up on the application and visit the site if called to the board, while main members who miss a hearing would be expected to review the material they missed.
Alternate members would be permitted to vote, but Algios said the board could also choose to continue the hearing to conduct a vote with its main board members.
Dalimonte voted against the resolution because she said there had been no issue with the Board of Zoning and Appeals in the past five years that the alternate members are supposed to address through their addition.
