Stone pillars' removal a sore point

There isn't much that the Village of Plandome Manor and resident Denise Mavroson agree on, except this: The stone structures that greeted visitors to her property for decades are gone.

The village demolished the two pillars and a section of walkway last month.

Mavroson watched in horror as the stonework -- which predated her purchase of the home 37 years ago -- was destroyed. The village insists she should not have been surprised.

Indeed, this episode has a history, in village offices and courtrooms.

In 2005, a village trustee saw the structures and reported them as a safety hazard to a village inspector, according to Village Prosecutor Stanley Kopilow, and a summons was issued. In 2009, Mavroson was convicted of violating village code regarding "accessory structures on the front yard of her home" and fined $1,500. An appeals court overturned the conviction because the structures were "located on municipal property" -- the village roadway, which extends 15 feet either side of center -- "and not on defendant's property."

Those words not only gave the village permission to remove the stonework, Kopilow said -- they necessitated it.

Even though the structures had been there for decades?

"I know it's been there since before she bought the house," he said. "That didn't make it legal . . .

"They're on village land, not hers. Once the village is on notice that you have an illegal structure, then the village has to take action." If a car had struck one of the structures, "we'd be liable," he said.

Could a compromise have preserved the walkway and adjoining gardens?

Mavroson certainly thought so. She said she had spoken with code enforcement officer Robert Rocklein and believed such an arrangement was in the works, but "the next afternoon a bulldozer" showed up.

Countered Kopilow: "There was no compromise." He said the officer's job is to enforce village code and, as such, Rocklein lacks the authority to negotiate. Rocklein declined to speak with Watchdog, as did Mayor Barbara Donno.

Mavroson insists hers isn't the only home with stonework extending onto village roadways. Kopilow disagrees. "Our calculations indicated hers were the only ones on village property," he said. "No one is being treated differently."

The demolition introduced yet another issue: A tape measure indicates the stone walkway was ripped up four feet beyond the 15-foot line.

Said Kopilow: "I'm sure if the village did so, that the village will make good on what was inappropriately taken." As of last week, the village hadn't.

The damage extended to Mavroson's gardens, which were filled with hundreds of bulbs she had planted with her mother, Helen, who died in July. Mavroson said her mother had asked to be remembered when the flowers bloom.

"They didn't give me a chance to dig them up," she said.

-- JUDY CARTWRIGHT

Signs now prohibit risky U-turns

We need either turn lanes or "No U-turn" signs at a series of intersections on Suffolk Avenue (County Road 100) in Central Islip, between Veterans Memorial Highway (NY Route 454) and Wheeler Road (County Road 17). Westbound cars trying to make such turns to get to the LIRR station come to a dead stop in the left lane amid traffic moving at more than 40 mph.

-- Susan Dekeris, Central Islip

Keep an eye out for new No U-turn signs at three intersections on Suffolk Avenue.

It turns out that westbound U-turn restrictions already existed at four of the intersections -- Dovecote Lane, Gibbs Road, Powell Avenue and Weeks Avenue -- but three of the signs were missing, Suffolk County's Public Works Department told Watchdog, likely the result of accidents.

The county notified the Town of Islip, which handles sign maintenance on county roads inside its borders. The town has since installed the signs.

Missing signs aren't unusual, said the county's chief engineer Bill Hillman. "A car knocks it over and someone picks it up for scrap metal," he said.

Hillman said the county has opened a case study to determine if such signs are needed at more locations on the road.

-- MICHAEL R. EBERT