Is the rent getting too darn high?

State DOT hikes monthly fee for Five Towns businesses

Posted

After getting hit with a whopping 150 percent increase — the first one in 19 years — in the rent he pays the New York State Department of Transportation every 30 days, Matt Rosen, general manager of the Five Towns Mini-Golf and Batting Range, created an online petition to protest the hike, which his family says will drive them out of business.

The Rosens have been paying the DOT $50,400 per year, because the state owns the 84,000-square-foot parcel on Rockaway Turnpike in Lawrence where they have been doing business since 1978. With the increase, the yearly rent has jumped to $144,000. They rent the land on a month-to-month basis, using what’s called a use and occupancy permit.

Other businesses operate on state-owned land. According to the DOT, it held a meeting with local officials about the monthly fees last September, and informed its tenants in December that rents would go up on April 1. The Rosens confirmed that they received a second letter in late May, reminding them that the new rate had gone into effect. They have appealed the decision. “If it comes to fruition,” Matt Rosen said, “we’re not going to be able to stay open after this season.”

DOT officials said that another Five Towns business also received an increase. A principal of the Garden Gallery, who declined to be identified, confirmed that the nursery, on Bay Boulevard in Inwood, had its state rent raised two years ago, and again this year.

According to the DOT, certain properties in the Five Towns have not been reassessed in many years, and were undervalued. April 1997 was the last time the rent for the Five Towns Mini-Golf and Batting Range was adjusted, the department said.

“The agency conducted a statewide review of DOT properties to assess fair market value,” said a spokeswoman, Eileen Peters. “All properties in the Five Towns area were part of that review and subject to a rent increase more reflective of the region’s current property values. The owner of Five Towns Mini-Golf was notified in December and given the opportunity to appeal based on assessment values of comparable properties. That appeal is under review.”

His family initially appealed to the DOT’s regional office in Hauppauge, Rosen said. The appeal was denied, and they are currently appealing to the main office in Albany.

Nassau County Legislator Howard Kopel (R-Lawrence) said the increase is “hurting a small business.” Kopel and State Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder (D-Far Rockaway) have gone to bat for the Rosens.

Rosen created a petition on change.org to raise awareness of the fee increase and rally support for his business. The petition, directed to Gov. Andrew Cuomo, had collected more than 1,660 digital signatures as of press time. “We are very grateful that people are supporting us,” Rosen said.

The DOT is proposing a construction project, currently in the development stage, on the Nassau Expressway, between Burnside Avenue and Rockaway Turnpike, that would begin in the fall of 2019 and continue through the spring of 2021. “Current traffic operational and safety issues, poor pavement and drainage conditions, and aesthetic issues will be addressed under this proposed project,” which will cost approximately $110 million in federal and state money, according to the DOT’s website.

Have an opinion about the Department of Transportation raising the rent of these local businesses? Send your letter to the editor to jbessen@liherald.com.