The Oakwood Princeton Park Civic Association (OPPCA) Executive Board of officers has voted unanimously to once again petition the town board's rejection of an application filed by the absentee-owner of the residence located at the corner of Columbia Drive and Broadway requesting permission to convert this residence into a commercial entity.

An identical application for the same home and purpose was soundly defeated nearly 10 years ago due, in part, to the OPPCA's insistence that the impact of such permission would have caused an unfair and unjust hardship upon adjacent neighbors, including the Jericho Fire House, and established a precedent that would have upset the exclusive residential composition of this fine neighborhood.

None of the conditions that the town board cited in its original May 1991 outright denial have improved. In fact, they were worsened a few years ago when the applicant's contractor was "caught" doing illegal alterations that tore out portions of this home in order to accommodate additional multiple medical practitioner offices without any municipal permission or variances.

Violations were promptly cited along with a stop work order by the town's building department.

The OPPCA has taken a stand that such actions are an affront to the laws and standards by which the rest of us peaceably abide and must not be rewarded. We openly invite all neighbors to write or call the town supervisor's office and insist that the town board uphold its "Wachtel" decision.

All are welcome to the town board's hearing of this application which is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. this Tuesday, Feb. 1. We'll keep you apprised of the resolution's outcome under this heading in a future issue of The Syosset-Jericho Tribune.