Residents concerned about pressing issues in the Tri-Hamlet Area are looking forward to a special meeting November 4 with Brookhaven Councilwoman Karen Dunne-Kesnig.
The Pattersquash Civic Association's previous agenda has been put aside to host the meeting starting at 7 p.m. at the Mastic Beach Firehouse. According to President Frank Fugarino, the association will serve dinner to increase public turnout.
“We’re calling it Karen Dunne-Kesnig Night,” said Fugarino, who put quality of life issues at the top of the list to discuss with the town’s 6th Council District rep. “We really want to win her over. She’s with us for the next few years, and we want to maintain a close working relationship.”
With the dissolution of Mastic Beach Village, the area returned to town control, yet many of the issues remain. The civic has long been concerned with the proliferation of boarding houses and sober homes run by unscrupulous operators who don’t have a stake in the community. “People want a different look and change the negative perception,” Fugarino said. “You use Neighborhood Road and see the street people and the vagrants and stuff that's bad. The absentee owners impact the quality of life, not only in the Tri-Hamlet area but throughout the town,” he said, adding that most of the group rentals are subsidized by the government.
According to Fugarino, only four of the 13 homes the civic knows of have town rental permits. Brookhaven and Suffolk officials have previously discussed denying Section 8 and county rental payments to landlords who don’t secure the permits. These would require inspections that would uncover illegal and unsafe conditions, which, residents hope, could lead to condemnation of the property if not rectified.
The multi-family issue also came up at last month’s Pattersquash meeting which featured officers with the Suffolk Police COPE Unit and county Legislator Jim Mazzarella. They are pressing landlords to register trespass complaints to give law enforcement more power to enforce open container and loitering laws.
One ownership group has 200 rentals in the Tri-Hamlet Area, which encompasses Mastic, Mastic Beach, and Shirley, and another 400 across the town. “There’s no way they can keep an eye on everything that’s going on at their properties,” the Pattersquash President said. “We need to solve this problem, and having an open line of communication with our council representative is a good first step.
The civic group is also looking for an update on the Beechwood project, a town-sponsored effort to completely rebuild the Neighborhood Road Business District. While many agree that the effort will remake the downtown area and quell some of the quality of life problems, they are also concerned with the mandated acquisition of 140 properties within the 47-acre target zone. If landowners cannot settle on terms with the developer, the town has the right to condemn their property and leave the purchase price up to a judge. Some feel that the neglect the area is experiencing is designed to lower the property values and make the massive project less costly for Beechwood.
The group is also expected to discuss plans to provide sewer service to Beechwood and the surrounding area. Eliminating cesspools and their effect on local water quality has been an ongoing community concern for nearly half a century.