By: JOSEPH KELLARD
In front of TV news cameras reporting on the alleged rape on Aug. 18, Toback announced that early next month, the county government will go before a Nassau County Supreme Court judge and ask him to declare the business a public nuisance in order to get it shut down. "The county is pursuing its efforts through its nuisance-abatement law to essentially padlock the facility," Toback said.
The alleged rape was the latest in a series of illegal activities Oceanside residents claim guests at the motel have perpetrated for many years, including the use and sale of drugs and prostitution, crimes that are covered under the public-nuisance law.
In May, Toback issued the motel's owner, Bharat Bhatt, a first notice of prohibited conduct, which warned him to prevent his clientele from further criminal conduct at his establishment. Toback based this notice on five drug-related arrests at the motel property over the previous nine months.
On June 2, two men staying at the motel were arrested for possession of crack cocaine and its sale to undercover police officers who were part of the Nassau County Police Department's investigation into drug activity at the motel.
Two days later, the county served Bhatt a final notice of prohibited conduct, which demanded that he take action within five days of receiving the notice "to make an application to a court of appropriate jurisdiction to accomplish the abatement of such prohibited conduct." The county threatened that if Bhatt failed to respond, it would "bring the necessary proceedings" for any remedies "as though the county were the owners of the premises."
Asked why the county is only going before the court now, more than two months after Bhatt was issued a final notice of prohibited conduct, Toback said, "Because this is the first time the county has acted on its [public-nuisance-abatement] law, it's taking a little longer than when we process other things. They want to [look into whether] there are some Constitutional issues that will be raised in defense of the law to make sure that we're on solid footing when we get to court."
Toback said that the county is confident it can prove what it needs to regarding the nuisance law, and added that the county "hopes to have the motel shut down certainly this fall."
Meanwhile, in addition to claiming that it was relentless in using its condemnation powers to close the motel, the town said it has been delayed in taking action against the motel on its own public-nuisance law because of a potential buyer whose attorney in the matter is Toback.
Kevin O'Brien, Bhatt's attorney, told the Herald that for at least the past 45 days Toback has represented Usman Bandurka of the S&S Investment Group in Oceanside, in an effort to buy the motel for retail or medical office space for $2.7 million, but that, to his surprise, the deal fell through last week.
Hempstead Town Councilman Anthony Santino said that on June 14, the Supreme Court judge delayed the town's efforts to use its own public-nuisance law against the motel because of the potential purchase of the property by Toback's client.
"On the one hand, it's ironic that Mr. Toback is out there holding press conferences saying that he's going to do something on the county level to close the motel under the county's law," Santino said, "when on the other hand, his actions as a private attorney have impeded what the town has been trying to do since June to close the motel down."
Toback said that he did nothing to impede either the town's or the county's efforts to get the motel closed. "What I was trying to do was facilitate a better use for the property, one that would keep it on the tax rolls," he said. "...If the town wanted to pursue its nuisance-abatement claim, it started it in August 2003, and it seems that they've slowed it down pretty well themselves. ... If the case was held up because of what my client was doing, then the town would have held it up, because they don't want to buy the property and thought someone else was going to buy it."
When asked about his knowledge of potential buyers after his meeting with the press last Wednesday, Toback did not reveal to the Herald that he had been working as an attorney to buy the motel. But he later said, "If I was trying to hide the fact that I was involved with this, I wouldn't have put my name on the contract that I know was going to [Santino's] desk."
Meanwhile, on Aug. 20, the town's public-nuisance case against the motel returned to the state Supreme Court, and Judge Burt Joseph decided that the motel's owner has until Sept. 24 to prepare his brief regarding the case.
O'Brien said that since the town's taking of the motel property is likely, the matter is simply one of arriving at a price. O'Brien said the town has yet to make an offer, but that an Oceanside realtor suggested an asking price of $3.2 million.
"I've had offers that high, but as a motel use," O'Brien said. "As a non-motel use, I don't think it's going to go that high. The right number, I would say, is somewhere in the low- to mid-$2 million range."
