Huntington Town, church haggle over price

A religious organization that wants to build a church on five acres in Dix Hills has given the Town of Huntington until Friday to purchase the property to resolve neighborhood opposition to its plans.

The purchase, like many real estate transactions, has bogged down over the price.

Huntington has offered to pay market value for the property and construct soccer fields. Sadhu Vaswani, which has owned the land at 146 Burrs Lane for two years, wants to also recover some of its costs.

"My clients have no intentions of selling their property at a loss," said John Breslin, the Huntington attorney representing the church. "It's unreasonable for anyone to expect that."

Town officials said state law requires them to pay market value, which they put at $1.4 million, to buy the land from the spiritual organization that has its roots in Pakistan. Church leaders want $1.75 million to cover the $1.5 million they paid for the property in 2009, plus costs such as taxes and preparing the site plan.

"It's a great opportunity for the town to have these fields and I think it would be good for the community," town Supervisor Frank Petrone said. "We had it appraised and we will pay them $1.4 million, but they [church officials] . . . want additional dollars."

Sadhu Vaswani officials bought the land with plans to build a church to accommodate a congregation of about 200, a parking lot and gardens.

Nearby residents, who met with church and town officials in the fall, oppose the church as being incompatible with the neighborhood.

When Sadhu Vaswani officials learned they were unwelcome, they agreed to consider other sites and sell the Dix Hills property, Breslin said.

"Some members of the community, including myself, met with them initially and tried to persuade them that this was not an appropriate location for the facility," said Michael Neidell, a seven-year resident of the area who has mobilized neighbors against the plan.

Breslin said his clients could not find a similar five-acre site near the Long Island Expressway and no farther east than Huntington.

The dispute marks the second time the town has tried to purchase the land for soccer fields. Six years ago, residents in the area opposed that plan as also incompatible with the neighborhood and the town backed off.

"The community came out saying no," Petrone said. "Now lo and behold it was sold and now the community wants it purchased. We were always looking to purchase the land but we're not just going to purchase it and have it as barren land."

Breslin said church officials will pursue their plan if no agreement with the town is reached.

Neidell said the majority of neighborhood residents would prefer soccer fields over a commercial-type facility with the potential for heavy usage.