The Mineola School District recently got a lesson in Town of North Hempstead law after cutting down nine trees at the high school.

The town fined the district $19,000 for 11 code violations, saying the school district had cut down the trees in front of the high school’s campus in Garden City Park outside the town’s right-of-way without a permit.

“I conferred with the town’s attorney’s office and they advised us that they would be interested in prosecuting this case,” Derek Skuzenski, the town’s commissioner of public safety, said.

The town issued an appearance ticket for a court date set on Aug. 23. On the ticket, it states that the school district did not display a building permit while doing work and they removed trees that were in the Town’s right of way.

 

North Hempstead’s Department of Public Safety had received notice from Town Councilman Dennis Walsh’s office on July 25 that the Mineola School District was cutting trees down in what appeared to be the Town’s right of way along Washington Avenue.

The town did not approve this work, which alerted code enforcement to investigate the area.

 

To cut down a tree in North Hempstead, the town requires the tree to be assessed, an arborist to inspect it, and a good reason provided.

“They didn’t pursue any of that and they cut down all of them,” said Umberto Mignardi, the town’s public information officer.

Mignardi said the school district has argued that the town has no authority to require them to go through a process before cutting down any tree.

But, he said when the town receives phone calls from constituents about an issue, it seems like “common sense” that the issue applies to the Town.

The Mineola School District declined to comment on the violations.

“Mineola Public Schools does not comment on pending legal matters,” Blaine Malefatto, a spokesperson for the school district, said.

Skuzenski said the law gives schools a lot of discretionary authority, but they aren’t exempt from doing everything.

For example, he said, a school district may be able to build a fence without obtaining a building permit from the town, but that doesn’t give them immunity from complying with the town code.

“The town’s position is in preserving the suburban quality of life and keeping the neighborhood looking nice,” Skuzenski said. “And the councilman got complaints. He had constituents complaining that these trees were removed so I think the Town’s really just looking for the trees to get replaced.”

Mignardi said he remembered the street having a “beautiful tree canopy” of very tall trees. After hearing about the complaints, he visited the street and he said it looked pretty drastic compared to how he remembered it.

“We do not have a comment on this as the high school is outside the boundaries of the Village of Mineola,” Bryan Rivera, clerk for the Village of Mineola, said.

The next court appearance is on Oct. 11. A trial date has not yet been set.