Suffolk's Foley Home sale may hit snag over town zoning fee

The Bellone administration's proposed $20 million sale of the Foley nursing home in Yaphank may have hit a $578,000 snag.

Brookhaven Town officials say the former 264-bed facility, on land zoned for homes on one acre, will be subject to what town law calls a "land use intensification mitigation fee" totaling that dollar amount. The fee, enacted about two years ago, requires developers to pay for the right of intensifying land use from what is allowed in the town zoning code. The money raised is spent on open space.

While the Foley home is not subject to town zoning while publicly owned, officials say a private owner would have to pay the fee. The sale is contingent on state and local approvals. It would also require a zoning change from residential to nursing-home use, and variances because the building exceeds the town's 35-foot height limit and lacks the required road frontage, town officials say. Neither the county nor buyer Kenneth Rozenberg have made applications to the town. The Bellone administration has filed a resolution at the county legislature to authorize the sale.

Kenneth Gaul, who had a letter of intent to buy Foley for $11.25 million, said there was no expiration date on his letter, and the county may be guilty of a "breach of faith" and liable for financial damages by not following up other opportunities while committed to the purchase.