Islip plans fees for blighted properties

The Islip Town board Tuesday took the first step in adopting a new policy to confront banks, mortgage companies and absentee landlords who refuse to clean up blighted properties.

The board voted unanimously to hold a public hearing Jan. 25 on the proposal, which would create a points system to define blight, and tack on an annual fee to the tax bill of properties that accumulate 100 points or more.

It would be the first of its kind on the Long Island.

"We know personally the difficulty of living with blighted properties," Donna Periconi, president of the Bay Shore Chamber of Commerce, said at a news conference Tuesday with town officials announcing the plan. "This is a brave move by the Town of Islip, long overdue."

Bay Shore, Brentwood and Central Islip have been particularly hard hit by the mortgage crisis, town officials and community leaders said.

The town board authorized the boarding up of 35 properties last year, town spokesman Kevin Bonner said.

The town's code enforcement department received 258 complaints in 2010 for vacant and unsecured properties, which likely include repeat complaints for some properties, Bonner said.

The town's proposed blight measures include incentives for developers who purchase blighted properties - a reduction in permit fees of up to 50 percent and an expedited application process.

Long Island's municipalities generally confront blight by issuing code violations and, in cases where public safety is at risk, boarding up properties and billing the owner.

Many towns also target derelict properties for affordable housing developments.

Islip's plan is the first to create a points system and charge property owners an annual fee - $2,500 for residential properties, $5,000 for commercial properties - for inclusion on a blight list. Town officials expect about 50 properties to qualify for the list this year, Bonner said.

Major problems - such as a threat to public safety, fire hazard or unresolved code violations - would be assigned 50 points. Other indications of blight would be assigned point values depending on their severity. Boarded windows would count for 5 points, vermin infestations for 30.

To get off the blight list, property owners could enter into a written "restoration agreement" with the town. That would qualify them for a temporary fee waiver pending completion of the property's rehabilitation.

Blight registry fees would help fund town beautification programs, including one in which community groups paint decorations on plywood boards that secure vacant buildings.