By:JOSEPH KELLARD
But another development threatens to delay that decision. Both the town and county threatened to prosecute the motel-s owner under nuisance laws in connection with multiple drug-related arrests made on its property during the past year. However, the county never filed a case against the motel, while the town did. So, rather than file a separate case with another judge on the same matter, the county attorney last month filed an amicus brief in support of the town-s case.
The county is supporting the town-s position that these arrests took place, and therefore the books say that the motel should be closed down, and the county agrees with this, Nassau County Legislator Jeff Toback told the Herald.
While the town has accepted the county-s actions, Kevin O-Brien, the attorney for motel owner Bharat Bhatt, submitted papers opposing the county. O-Brien contends that the county should either be bound by the determination of the court or file its own action and have it merged with the town-s action so that the same judge can hear both together.
We-re doing it on the basis that the county is not a party to this action, O-Brien said. If the county agrees to be bound by the decision of the judge, fine. But we basically don-t want the county to sit down and say, OK, let-s see what happens with the town, and if it doesn-t work out we-re going to go file a separate action there.
Judge Joseph must now additionally decide on whether or not to allow the county to join the case.
Meanwhile, in a separate effort to prevent the town from taking the property through an eminent domain seizure, O-Brien said he has been trying to sell the property to a motel chain, such as Days Inn, which he said has expressed interest in buying the property.
I tried to float that by the town, but I don-t think they are thrilled with that idea, quite frankly, even if the motel chain has brand name to it, O-Brien said.
At a meeting in May, the town board unanimously voted to condemn and take the motel property in the wake of the drug arrests and residents- complaints about activities on the premises, which reportedly included underage drinking, vandalism, burglaries and the presence of sex offenders. In August, a man was charged with statutory rape for allegedly having sex with a 15-year-old girl at the motel.
Previously, Usman Bandurka, of the S&S Investment Group in Oceanside, whose legal representative was Toback, negotiated with O-Brien to buy the property for $2.7 million, agreeing to use it for retail or medical office space. But that deal fell through, and has remained off the table since August, according to both O-Brien and Toback.
Chain drug stores were initially interested in the property, but offered less money than Bandurka. But O-Brien said he is reconsidering their offers. I really should follow up with some of the drug store chains, he said, but the numbers they were coming in at were substantially lower than what the motel people were coming in at.
O-Brien said that since his client has fixed monthly expenses, some substantial mortgages on the property to pay off, and a family to take care of, he must therefore try to get the best deal he can. I think everyone has the same goal, O-Brien said, so let-s not be adversarial. ... So if someone comes to me and we can reasonably take this property, fine.
Comments about this story? JKellard@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 287.
