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Mostly Cloudy Stevens home decision delayed
Town Board waits to vote on house’s historic status
The Town of Hempstead Board of Trustees has decided to take more time to examine information presented by activists and elected leaders last week in considering whether to declare the former home of Stan Stevens a historic landmark.
The landmark initiative began in October 2010, when Bellmore residents Christine Keller and Theresa Greene learned that the Stevens home, at 2396 Bellmore Ave., was up for sale. Keller said that Stevens, a bayman and tugboat captain, dredged the land to fill in the wetlands where south Bellmore is now, and helped build the Wantagh Parkway, the Jones Beach water tower and the Robert Moses Causeway.
With the support of local officials and preservation groups who Keller said agreed that the architecture and former owner of the home represent Bellmore’s maritime traditions, the Town of Hempstead Landmarks Preservation Committee recommended granting landmark status to the home, which would limit changes to it and prevent it from being demolished in the future. The final decision, though, must come from the town board.
On Sept. 4, supporters of landmark status went before the board to present their case. The beneficiaries of the Stevens estate –– including two local animal shelters –– also spoke to the trustees about how they felt the initiative was hurting rather than helping them.
Keller said that the Stevens home, a 1920s bungalow that sits on a 125-by-150-foot parcel of land, includes a second plot that was originally used for planting. Joan Stevens owned the home until her death in 2009, when she left her estate to a disabled friend and two animal shelters, Animal Lifeline in Bellmore and Bobbi and the Strays, which has locations in Freeport and Queens. Keller said that the home’s asking price is $250,000.
Virginia Tokar, a member of the Bobbi and the Strays board, said that the beneficiaries of Joan Stevens’s estate are opposed to the idea of the home’s being declared a landmark because they feel it would discourage buyers who would want to clear the property. Because the home’s plumbing and other systems have been removed, she said, it would be hard to sell as it is.
