By ALEX COSTELLO
The land runs adjacent to Little Beach, an aptly-named 100-foot long beach at the end of Pershing Place, and in its pre-storage days it housed a lifeguard stand and public bathrooms for beachgoers. During the last five years, as most of Island Park's beach traffic headed to Masone Beach, the property evolved into a storage facility and gravel parking area.
"There have been problems with teenagers hanging out down there and drinking, and it's a building that we would have to continue to maintain," said Island Park Mayor Jim Ruzicka. "It's not being used, and it's an excess piece of property that we could use the revenue for on our budget." Ruzicka said the village spends less than $5,000 a year to maintain it.
The village listed the 4,000 square-foot property, which it purchased for $13,350 in 1967, for sale at $380,000 in early 2007. It received one bid, at $100,000 less than the asking price, from Joseph Balabanick, who has developed a dozen other Island Park properties through his company, Banick Construction.
Hoping to get a higher offer, the village put the parcel up for bid again in the spring of 2007, asking $300,000. When Balabanick's bid was still the only one come summertime, the village decided to accept his $280,000 bid.
In the written purchase proposal Balabanick presented to the village on April 9, 2007, he proposed the construction of a two-story Colonial style home on the site.
Gary Levine, who owns the house adjacent to the Pershing Place property, contends the project will crows his house and drastically reduce his property’s value.
Levine’s father, retired judge Samuel Levine, a former Director-Superintendent of Real Estate for Nassau County, believes that building a home on the property, so close to his son’s, would reduce the property value of Gary’s home by $50,000 to $75,000.
“The attorney for the builder claims there will be no effect,” Gary Levine said. “The truth is probably somewhere in the middle. But in my father’s expert opinion, $50,000 is the net decrease in value of my property. [That is] lots of money.”
Levine and his father also argue the sale of the property is illegal because it is public property, therefore the sale needs approval from the New York State Legislature.
Levine and his father claim signs on the property warning people that swimming is prohibited and that there is no lifeguard on duty prove the property is public domain.
“These signs are what we brought forth to the public appeals,” Levine said. “These signs ...we believe make our case as public property.”
According to Harvey Levinson, the former Nassau County Assessor, even though the land is zoned as "Community Services," that does not mean that it is public property. "[Being classified as 'Community Services'] would be a non-issue," Levinson said. "That's just a term that we use."
Levinson went on to say that the village owns the property and, since it isn't used any more, can do what they want with it - including sell it.
And the Legislature had been informed of possible wrongdoing on the village's part, and looked into it.
"We did call the Attorney General’s office to investigate and see if there were any violations of state law," said State Legislator Harvey Weisenberg, "and none were presented."
According to Gomie Persuad, the village's clerk, the property has yet to be officially sold. One of the conditions placed on the bid was that the zoning board would approve a single family house for the property, and the village is still awaiting that decision, which Persuad said should likely come some time soon, now that the holiday season is over.
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