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Wantagh home slated for demolition

Town orders abandoned house torn down

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A North Wantagh house that neighbors say has sat empty for at least a decade will be coming down. The Hempstead town board approved the demolition of 60 Twisting Lane at its meeting on March 29.

The house is one of 17,447 built as part of the post-World War II Levitt development that spanned parts of Wantagh, Levittown, Westbury and Hicksville. The blue and white 1,600-square-foot Levitt ranch with a full upstairs expansion and an attached garage was built in 1951. It is the first house on the south side of the street off Seaman’s Neck Road.

The front door and garage have been boarded up, as have all the windows on the sides and back. The front windows have been covered in Plexiglas, and the roof draped with tarps. John Rottkamp, the town’s commissioner of buildings, recommended demolition of the house because it is unsafe and a danger to public safety.

According to town officials, if a home is deemed more than 33.5 percent damaged, it can be torn down. “The dwelling has been abandoned for some time and is rapidly deteriorating,” said town spokeswoman Susie Trenkle-Pokalsky. “The structure is infested with vermin and has become a public nuisance. In order to eliminate the dangerous structure and fire hazard, this dwelling must be demolished down to its existing concrete foundation.”

Trenkle-Pokalsky said the first inspection of the house came in December 2013 following the complaint of a neighbor. A structural survey of the home was completed on Jan. 20 by Raymond Schwarz, supervisor of inspection services for the town’s Department of Buildings. His report stated that there was significant structural damage to the house.

Numerous violations are posted on the garage, including from the Department of Sanitation for high grass and excessive debris on the property, and from the Department of Buildings for the unsafe structure.

“It has been a poison in my neighborhood for over 10 years,” said Richard Dagliolo, the lone person to speak at the public hearing.

Dagliolo, who lives across the street, said he has been making complaints to both the town and county about the condition of the house for years. He added that debris constantly builds up on the property because no one is there to clear it.

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