The Village of North Hills Board of Trustees has yet to make a decision on whether to approve a plan to build up to 58 condominiums on an 18-acre parcel of land in that village.

On Tuesday, Aug. 2, the village held a public meeting on the matter, while it considers an application by North Hills Holding Co., of Great Neck for residential construction. The development, if approved, would be named Chatham Phase II. The 18-acre parcel of land is known in North Hills as Grace Forest. The developer would build on 15 acres, with the remaining land to be preserved as open space. The village has not yet scheduled any future meetings on the development.

According to published reports, the Nassau County Planning Commission has recommended that the village reject the proposal on the grounds that approval would involve repealing a conservation easement already in place on the property, something that might be repeated in similar properties throughout Long Island.

The Aug. 2 meeting was held at the unusual hour of 4:30 p.m. Up to 20 residents attended the meeting. According to representatives from the North Shore Land Alliance (NSLA), the residents were split between those who opposed the development and those who supported it. Those in favor of the condominium plan cited the possible acquisition of a golf course for the village; mainly from monies the village would receive from the developer under an incentive zoning law that exists in North Hills. Published reports claim that the developer, if the plan is approved, would pay the village $12 million, money that village officials may use to fund a private golf course.

NSLA officials gave their own statement at the meeting. They claimed that Grace Forest is "home to ecologically important wetlands, and rare old growth trees."

They also noted that Chatham II is an expansion of an earlier development, Chatham I, originally called Forestwood.

"In order to satisfy environmental concerns raised during SEQRA for Forestwood, the developer agreed that this forest would be dedicated to the village as parkland and preserved from future development," the NSLA statement further claimed. It cited a 1987 Village of North Hills resolution, which articulated such a policy.

Citing the same concerns as the planning commission, the statement also claimed that approval would overturn the conservation easement on the property.

"Although the Conservation easement contains a clause which allows the Village Planning Board to repeal it, this clause violates the condition placed on the original developer that this forest be permanently preserved," the NSLA statement read. "We ask that you not take advantage of a loophole which violates a condition imposed during the original SEQRA process.

"Not only is this forest significant on its own, it also lies atop one of only two Special Groundwater Protection Areas (SGPA's) in Nassau County," the statement continued. "Open space that exists in these designated areas must be left undeveloped to ensure protection of the quantity and quality of our drinking water.

"The SGPA Plan also states that increasing the population on these areas would lead to the consequence, 'of the deterioration of groundwater quality and the loss of future supplies of high quality potable waters,'" the statement concluded. "The plan also suggests that SGPA should be classified as "critical areas of environmental concern" and that "multi-family or condominium development be strictly limited.' The North Shore Land Alliance agrees with the Nassau County Planning Commission which passed a Resolution disapproving the Village's request for an Incentive Use Permit and Repeal of Restrictive Covenants."