Lloyd Harbor Hit With Home Burglaries For First Time in More Than a Year

Two Lloyd Harbor residences were burglarized in October, the first residential burglaries in the village in a year and a half, according to Charles Flynn, the village police chief. Flynn detailed his findings in his monthly police report at Monday's Board of Trustees meeting held at .

In the first incident, Flynn said television sets were reported stolen from a home being repaired. After being delivered to a house, the TV's were reported missing the following morning. Flynn said homeowners claimed the house was secure, but as crews were inside working on the house, they all had security codes. 

Watches were reported stolen from another home, and the homeowner gave police the name of a person who was inside the house at the time of the theft.

Police are still investigating both incidents.

Also at the meeting, Highway Superintendent Bob Schwartz gave a village report for October. With winter approaching, Schwartz said crews are finishing up pothole repair, including some particularly bad areas on James Lane. Winterization of the park is also underway.

Representatives from the Federal Emergency Management Agency visited the village last month to assess . The village will be receiving federal funding to help repair some erosion on Lloyd Harbor Road. However, Schwartz said the beach did not qualify for any aid from FEMA for sand replacement, due to a lack of a maintenance program.

The highway department will be removing 11 trees on Seminary Hill in the coming weeks to make room for an elevated walking path. Two trees have already been removed by Long Island Power Authority. Schwartz estimates it will cost the village about $4,750 to remove the other trees and prepare the path. According to Mayor Leland Hairr, construction on the path will start in the spring.

The meeting began with a brief hearing regarding the renewal of Cablevision's franchise agreement with the village. Joan Gilroy, Cablevision's director of government affairs, said the contract would reflect changes that have taken place since the last contract was signed in 2001. With competition such as Verizon in the area, who have been serving customers in Lloyd Harbor since 2008, Cablevision wants a level playing field with other cable companies.

James Gaughran, Cablevison's outside counsel explained the new terms of the contract to the board. Currently, Cablevision pays three percent of their revenue to the village in a franchise fee, in exchange for the use of public property. If the village wanted to increase it to five percent, Verizon would have to increase their fee as well, to keep things fair.

Village Attorney John Ritter said the village was currently "in talks" with Verizon to increase their fee to five percent, and said the village would need a chance to go over everything before agreeing to the new contract.