November 13, 2012

On Tuesday night, the Village of Sea Cliff Board of Trustee’s voted to repeal section 48-7 of the Village code. That section of the code authorized the Village Building Superintendent to search any property or building in the Village without owner’s consent, or, without a duly authorized search warrant.

This illegal section of the code prompted a lawsuit against the Village by SCPOC’s Anthony Losquadro. In July 2012, Supreme Court Justice Steven Jaeger agreed with us and declared section 48-7 “unconstitutional on its face.”

The Village Board vote to repeal 48-7 brought the Village code in compliance with the Judge’s order.

Mayor Kennedy commented that the Village intends to appeal the decision, although at this time the Village attorneys have not perfected an appeal with the appellate division.

Kennedy also mentioned that State Building code authorizes building inspectors  to search properties, therefore section 48-7 was in effect redundant, in his opinion.

SCPOC disagrees with the Mayor’s assertion, and we will be following up to ensure the Village’s code, regulations, and policies do not violate the constitutional protections of the residents.

Tree permit regulations may be re-visited?

During the discussion about Superstorm Sandy, which struck Long Island in early November, comments were made about the Village tree regulations.

Resident Phil Como stated that the code should be changed back to the old rules, where residents are permitted to remove one tree per year without a permit. Como said, ” We (property owners) want to be treated like adults.”

Mayor Kennedy seemingly agreed, stating, ” After Sandy, if trees were people, we would call them terrorists.”

We hope this opens a new discussion in the Village about restoring a property owner’s right to remove one tree per year without Village interference.