By Linda Delmonico-Prussen
The town will now levy heavier fines for illegal rentals, as well as use new methods to catch homeowners with unlawful apartments in their homes, according to the code, which passed the Hempstead Town Council on March 11.
About 70 people turned out at the North Merrick Library to hear more information about the new code. Attending the meeting were Connie Lassandro, director of the Nassau County Office of Housing's Section 8 program, Nassau County Legislator David Denenberg (D-Merrick) and Town of Hempstead Councilman Gary Hudes (R-Levittown).
Town spokesperson Susie Trenkle said of the new code, "This
new measure allows the building inspectors to issue summonses based solely on outside indicators of illegal apartments. This shifts the burden of proof from the municipality to the homeowner, who now must prove that there is not an illegal apartment."
Additionally, Trenkle said, fines were increased to $500 for a first offense, $750 for a second violation and $1,500 for a third violation. Previously, the fines were $350, $700 and $1,000.
Mary Ramo, president of the North Merrick Community Association said that, with the new policies in place, town officials apparently believe they'll be able to do a better job of enforcing the codes against illegal rentals. "They [the town] gave teeth to the law so the code enforcers can go ahead and give
Summonses," she said.
At the same time, county also promised to give the town funding to help with enforcement. According to resident
Robert Young, a Merrick civic and environmental activist, Lassandro and Denenberg said the county was making $100,000 available to the town to put towards code enforcement.
Young told Hudes, "Did you hear that? Make an application for it."
According to Young, Hudes said he would apply for the money. Young said, "I think we put them on the spot and they had to say yes [to the money]."
Young said he's grateful that the town and the county will apparently work together to combat illegal rentals. "The community is ecstatic that this occurred," said Young.
For those residents who believe the lack of affordable rentals in the area contributes the problem of illegal rentals, Ramo invited Diego Benites, an assistant vice president for the Archstone-Smith development company, to attend the North Merrick association meeting.
Archstone-Smith is building affordable and fair-market value apartments at the site of the former Roosevelt Raceway. Heather Campbell, an Archstone-Smith spokesperson, declined to give a targeted date of completion for the project.
She would only say, "As a matter of company policy, we do not discuss development projects until we're delivering the first units to lease up. We will fully comply with any affordable housing requirements and will have that information once we are nearing development completion."
Campbell did say, ãRoosevelt Raceway is the first project we are developing in Long Island. We also own 101 West End, a high-rise property in Manhattan, and Plaza 25, a mid-rise property in White Plains."
The company also owns properties in Washington, D.C., southern California, the San Francisco Bay Area, Chicago, southeast Florida, Boston and Seattle.
Benites, however, did give attendees a sneak preview into the new
development. According to Ramo, Benites said the development would include 20 buildings with about 20 units per building for a total of 397 units. There would be one-, two- and three-bedroom units and a pool. The development will be located in the Uniondale School District. The apartments will be distributed in a lottery, and Archstone-Smith will alert the community when they can take part in that lottery.
Lassandro spoke about the county's Section 8 program that allows residents to rent out their homes legally to low income families, with the county helping to subsidize the rental payments. Homeowners wanting more information about Section 8 regulations can log onto www.nassaucountynydevelopment.org, click on housing programs, then scroll to Section 8 information.
How to report an illegal apartment
Homeowners may report suspected illegal rental apartments confidentially to the Committee Against Illegal Rentals, or CAIR, by calling (516) 728-1577. E-mail CAIR@optonline.net, or mail to CAIR P.O. Box 545, Merrick N.Y. 11566
Meeting in May
The next meeting of the North Merrick Community Association will be held At
the North Merrick Library in May. Date to be announced.
