Meetings
Purpose: To
promote, protect, encourage, and advance interests,
activities, and projects,
which will improve the area in which, we live.
To maintain and encourage and interest in activities
proposed and actual, of each political unit to
which we pay taxes whether it be the fire district,
school district, town, country, state or nation.
To communicate approved motions to the appropriate
political units. To serve the community and individual
members as an informational resource in matters
of concern to the community such as, but not
limited to, zoning, variances, assessments, traffic,
lighting, highway maintenance.
Civic meetings are held the 1st
Monday of
each month
at the Port
Jefferson
Ambulance
Building located on Crystal Brook Hollow Road in Mount Sinai
at 8 p.m. All are welcome. There are NO meetings
in January, July & August. Please make a note of
this!
The Role of the Civic
Your Civic Association plays a
vital role in the Mount Sinai community, and has
since it was established in 1916. We are involved
in zoning issues, land preservation, traffic calming,
safety issues and educating the residents about
political, educational and social activities. The
point of this article is to try to explain to community
members that while we have had many spectacular
successes as an organization, these victories came
as a result of hard work, fortuitous funding and
overwhelming community support.
According to the Constitution of the Mt. Sinai
Civic Association, some objectives of our organization
include acting to "promote, protect, encourage,
and advance interests, activities, and projects
which will improve the area in which we live," to "serve
the community and individual members as an informational
resource in matters … such as …zoning, variances,
assessments, traffic, lighting, highway maintenance." Other
activities include working with elected officials
to promote these objectives as well as secure funding
for various community based projects and monitoring
the actions of local political units such as the
local school, fire and ambulance district.
In the course of fulfilling these and other objectives,
the Executive Board receives countless inquiries
and requests for help in many different situations.
Normally we are able to handle the situation or
direct residents to the proper authority. Some
issues, however, are not within our power to address
or resolve.
Land preservation and beautification have always
been important to the Civic, and our recent successes
with the purchase of 355 trees for Route 25A, the
acquisition of the Chandler Estate as county parkland,
and the Wedge for a central park came as a result
of a providential alignment of available funding,
willing sellers, community resolve and political
expedience. Securing funding is the first obstacle,
and grant writing can be time consuming and difficult.
Residents, seeing those successes, may think that
preserving land is commonplace - please be assured
that it is not, for the following reason. Land
ownership carries with it the right to sell, transfer,
or develop property within the limits of the law
and zoning regulations. Property is worth money,
and owners are entitled to receive fair compensation
for their assets. Property owners are also free
to sell their land for development as they see
fit, within the boundaries of zoning law. As with
everything, the sale of land is a negotiation,
and zoning has important ramifications for the
value of property. This is why the Civic is often
at odds with landowners and developers who believe
in maximizing the value of their land by increasing
the density of projects, sometimes to the detriment
of the surrounding community. This is also why
while we might advocate that property be developed
in a certain way, we are not always able to select
the type of business or development that we want
in our community, but are subject to the market
demand for certain establishments and the opportunity
offered to the landowner.
One very visible case in point is the "Villages
at Mount Sinai" project, currently being built
as The Ranches, Hamlet at Willow Creek and Timber
Ridge Homes. Some newer residents may not realize
that the Civic instituted a lawsuit against the
Town of Brookhaven in 1995 and negotiated a settlement
in 1997 which significantly reduced the density
of that project, incorporated a golf course and
country club, and secured a one-time donation of
$10,000 per unit above the original allowable yield
to the Mt. Sinai school district. This donation
should be in excess of two million dollars. In
addition, the Civic secured a one-time donation
of $200,000 which will be used by the Town to subsidize
the work being done on the park on the Wedge and
make improvements to the MOD Center in Mt. Sinai.
While the Civic had to raise over $40,000 to pay
for the lawsuit, we felt it was necessary and justified.
Again, the issue of land values and ownership rights
played a part in the negotiation. In this case,
because of the lawsuit, the Civic played a pivotal
role in the ultimate configuration of this huge
development, and had substantial input in designing
the project. This is not normally the case.
Recently the Civic was able to bring information
regarding the increased use of condominium development
in our area to the residents of Mount Sinai, and
to school officials, who were able to use the information
to take legal action to protect the district's
future tax base. The Civic also facilitated dialogue
between groups within our community and local and
state officials regarding the issue of hunting
in Mount Sinai Harbor.
For further details or background on the role
of the Civic, please become more involved by joining
our membership and attending our meetings, joining
Civic committees and checking our web site. Please
remember that while our role is vital, it does
have limitations.
A. Becker 3/03
