Mastic Beach targeted for town crackdown on blight, neglect

Brookhaven Town inspectors issued hundreds of summonses for housing, vehicle and fire safety violations in Mastic Beach in the past two months as part of its plan to improve the community, officials said.

The Department of Recycling & Sustainable Materials Management found 338 unregistered vehicles in Mastic Beach, officials said. One hundred of them subsequently were removed by the owner, and 111 were allowed to remain on the property if covered with tarp.

Officials issued 79 summonses for the vehicle owner to appear in Suffolk County District Court in Patchouge before March 5. Thirteen were brought into compliance through the state Department of Motor Vehicles, town officials said. Inspectors also scheduled follow-up checks for 35 cars and/or trucks.

“I think things are certainly moving in the right direction in terms of abating blight and illegal housing,” said Brookhaven Town Councilman Dan Panico, who represents the district. “The number one thing we can do for Mastic Beach is to establish law and order and raise the acceptable standard of living in the area.”

Mastic Beach dissolved as an incorporated village and rejoined Brookhaven as an unincorporated hamlet on Jan. 1. Town officials promised to crack down on the blight in the community when they took it over.

Town officials carried out the quality of life initiative between Jan. 1 and Feb. 28.

“We’ve had no shortage of issues to address, but we’re working hard to make the area what it should be,” Panico said.

During the crackdown, the Brookhaven Division of Fire Prevention inspected 18 homes and found 232 violations, of which 55 were corrected by the homeowner, officials said. In addition, 24 court summonses were issued; the homeowners must appear in the court in Patchouge. The town did not provide details of the fire prevention violations.

“The hard working people of Mastic Beach deserve a much better quality of life than they’ve had in the past and we will not allow this community to be neglected,” Town Supervisor Edward P. Romaine said in a statement.

Former Mastic Beach Village Mayor Maura Spery praised Brookhaven’s effort.

“I’ve seen the difference, she said. “I’ve seen crappy yards that we went after being cleaned up. Brookhaven has been stepping it up. “The town is giving out tickets and people are having to comply.”

The town’s law department handed out 136 court appearance tickets for illegal housing, failure to file a rental registration, lack of building permits, parking on the front lawn and property maintenance violations, town officials said.

More than 20 homes were under evaluation for possible demolition in Mastic Beach — 15 homes were inspected and 10 were boarded and secured, officials said. Public hearings were set to demolish three homes, and one owner chose to tear down their own home, officials reported.

Officials have recently promoted the village as a “diamond in the rough” community primed for revitalization.

Panico said while that effort is a work in progress, several developers have expressed interest in building in and around the hamlet.

“We’ve had interest. We’re trying to foster some redevelopment,” he said. “Blighted structures are coming down and properties are being cleaned up as we aggressively combat blight and illegal housing. We are going go to raise this area up to where it should be.”