Mayor Richard Murcott is working to preserve horse trails in Muttontown. It is a sensitive issue since it balances between homeowners rights and a tradition of being a special place where horses are a part of the culture. But the issue is one that local residents support.

At the Muttontown village board meeting May 10, Mayor Richard Murcott said at the recent dinner held at the Hay Barn (article on page one) by several horse clubs including the Muttontown Horsemen's Association that several people approached him and talked about the Hoffman Center.

At one time horses had access to the property, which links Pen-More Farms to the Muttontown Preserve. That access has been denied.

At the meeting, Steve Silverberg of the Brookville Muttontown Residents Association spoke out in favor of horse trails saying people want to support the horse people. He said horses have been going through the property on their way to the Muttontown Preserve for years. That has recently been stopped.

Mr. Silverberg said Ms. Niarakis runs a foundation that pays no real estate taxes. You can't allow privileges to a non-profit, he said.

The mayor said his concept has no standing in law and Mr. Silverberg said it was a moral law.

Village Attorney Peter MacKinnon said what had happened was a withdrawal of permission.

Len Gero of Muttontown said residents want to support the horsemen.

Mayor Murcott said the village has wanted easements for horsemen to get to the Muttontown Preserve.

Presently Pen-More, in Muttontown, dead ends at the Hoffman Center and residents who thought they were buying into land with direct access to the trails have found that not to be the case.

Originally the Hoffman property was the estate of the Brewster family. The preserve retains a Georgian manor house as well as other estate buildings, which are currently under renovation/restoration for future use as an environmental center.

During the 1970s the property was run as a golf course, Charter Oaks, which then became Fox Run. When it applied for a subdivision to develop the property, it was approved but never came to fruition, the parties never acted on it probably as a result of a downturn in the housing market. As time passed it was no longer within the zoning consideration and went into bankruptcy. It was the time of the Savings and Loan scandal that hit the United States. The Resolution Trust created by the federal government auctioned off the estate, explained village clerk Vivien Van Wagner. The Hoffman Foundation, run by Ursula and Bill Niarakis, bought it.

At the May 10 meeting, Mayor Murcott said he would try to meet with Ursula Niarakis again. He said when he tried to see her previously, she said she was very busy planning the environmental center.

He said she was concerned that allowing horses to cross the property would be a liability, although the mayor suggested double fencing the trail.

Since then, he has contacted her again. Mayor Murcott said he called Ms. Niarakis and had a long chat with her. "She wanted to know how I felt and I said I was very interested in making life in Muttontown as nice as possible and I thought people going through her property might help that. I said they were sort of willing to do anything they could to make that happen.

"I had the feeling that she was beginning to come around to see it as a neighborly thing to do to let horse people go through the Hoffman Center.

"They are going to fence in the sides of their property and then, we think they will put up gates and give some horsemen - members of the Muttontown Horsemen's Association or whoever they agree to - will get keys to the gates.

"Unfortunately I don't think it will happen until late summer or fall which doesn't make the horsemen very happy," said the mayor.

Still, he has come up with an idea of his own. "There is a major gas line project going on - on the west side of Brookville Road. I thought, why not leave that area flat - as a horse trail. It would go all the way from Wheatley Road all the way up into Brookville.

"The horsemen were excited by that. If they lived in Pen-More, they could use their exiting horse trail and instead of going east, could go across through Brookville Estates trail and then to Brookville Road where they can go east up Muttontown Road. It is not a heavily traveled road. Also there are a lot of trails there that go into Old Westbury.

"I told the highway commissioner that since the land is already cut into why not leave it flat and not make it hilly. So there can be a five or six foot trail, on the side of the road. It is a possibility it will work."

He added - "I've learned in my young life, that things don't always work out the way you plan, but the important thing is I am trying to get them, the horsemen, as much as I can. I have to keep going after things. I hope it will work out very well."

This is about the third year the issue of the lost trail at the Hoffman Center has been under discussion.

Ken Hollins, a recent resident of Pen-More explained the concept of living in a horse friendly area. He said since the horses have been kept on the grounds, his children have been interacting with them with greater ease. They did very well at the next show they attended, he said.

Caring for the horses teaches responsibility. "We do it as a family," he said.