Local laws to create a special Recreation (REC) District within the Town's Special Groundwater Protection Area (SGPA) and to rezone certain properties within the SGPA to REC and lower density residential zoning classifications will be subjects of a Tuesday, April 20, public hearing by the Oyster Bay Town Board, according to Town Supervisor John Venditto.

"The purpose of the REC District is to help assure the preservation and continuation of existing recreational/open space uses so as to protect the quality and quantity of groundwater recharge into the sole source aquifers which provide drinking water for town residents," Venditto stated. "The REC District will also prevent or reduce flooding through the preservation of wetlands and drainageways and by the minimization of impervious surface coverage. Additionally, the REC District will protect visually and environmentally important natural features of the land such as trees, wetlands, streams and habitat for rare or endangered species of plants and animals."

Under the REC District, permitted principal uses would include public parks and municipal uses by the town, as well as by the county, state or federal government or a special district with town board approval. Permitted uses with a special use permit would include country clubs and private membership clubs.

Venditto went on to say that in a report entitled Zoning for the Protection of Groundwater in the Special Groundwater Protection Area prepared by the Town's zoning consultant, recommendations were made to rezone certain properties to provide further protection for the groundwater. He indicated that under the second proposed local law, the Nassau Country Club and an adjacent parcel owned by the Town of Oyster Bay in Locust Valley, the Glen Head Country Club, Goat Hill Park and the Pine Hollow Country Club in East Norwich, the Town of Oyster Bay Golf Course in Woodbury, Town-owned property on the easterly side of Split Rock Road in Syosset, Stillwell Woods County Park in Syosset, Trail View State Park (the former Bethpage State Parkway right-of-way) from the boundary of the Village of Laurel Hollow to the northerly boundary of Northern State Parkway, Manetto Hill County Park in Plainview, a Town-owned park on the northern boundary of the Hamlet on Olde Oyster Bay in Plainview, the Meadowbrook Country Club in Jericho and a Town-owned park on the northern edge of the 81-acre Underhill parcel in Jericho would be all be rezoned REC (Recreation District). In addition, residential properties north of Dogwood Lane in Locust Valley, Berry Hill Elementary School property in Syosset and property occupied by the State University of New York at Old Westbury would be rezoned to lesser density residential.

The town's SGPA encompasses portions of East Norwich, Glen Head, Jericho, Locust Valley, Oyster Bay hamlet, Plainview, Syosset, Westbury and Woodbury.

Venditto noted that the meeting will be held in the hearing room of Town Hall East, 54 Audrey Avenue, Oyster Bay, beginning at 7 p.m. Following the regular town business, the town board will be available to listen to public comment on any subject.