Town removes airplane from Oceanside home driveway

Hempstead Town officials, members of the Building Department and the town’s top engineer gathered at the Yale Street home of Harold Guretzky on April 20 to dismantle the Cessna 152 airplane he has kept in his driveway since last summer.

Guretzky is a student pilot who used to keep his airplane at Republic Airport, where he was charged $150 per day. Not wanting to continue to pay those fees, the 69-year-old had his plane dismantled last summer, brought to his home and reassembled. It has been there ever since.

Last fall, Guretzky was served with violation notices by the town, a $2,500 summons and several tickets for not having a permit to park the plane on his property.

Last week, citing the potential danger of residential storage of an airplane, which, according to building inspectors, is a violation of Hempstead’s building zone ordinance, the town ordered it taken apart.

Guretzky also has two large antennas in his back yard, 30 and 60 feet tall, which he uses for amateur radio transmissions but for which he does not have permits. He owns an aircraft radio company in Queens and repairs radios and televisions, doing some of the work in his home.

In a windstorm earlier this month, the town received reports that the airplane lifted three feet off the ground, and one of the antennas collapsed. Afterward, Bill Rockenseis, the town’s commissioner of engineering, issued a report that stated in part, “I cannot certify that the aircraft is properly secured in the event of a strong wind or storm to prevent it from uplifting, falling, collapsing or causing damage and injury to the occupants and/or adjacent property. Accordingly, I would recommend that the aircraft be removed immediately.”

The notices, posted on the home and served by certified mail, directed Guretzky to remove the airplane and the antenna by April 19 or face the removal of both by a Hempstead contractor.

Town Supervisor Anthony Santino said, “The storage of airplanes and unpermitted radio towers on residential property could easily put the safety of neighbors at risk. I won’t let that happen.”

Guretzky’s attorney, Marc Ialenti, said they are claiming that the town’s actions constituted selective prosecution. “This could mean every boat on a lawn or driveway, every commercial truck — and you see them all over, with ladders hanging off the roofs — every work van should also be subject to the same rules” Ialenti said.

While town workers were dismantling the plane, Guretzky was driving through Wyoming, making his way back from California.