New Brookhaven court to focus on quality-of-life issues

Citing a need to crack down on absentee landlords who skirt town codes, Brookhaven and Suffolk County court officials Monday announced the opening of a new quality-of-life court in Patchogue.

The court, called Brookhaven Community Court, operates one to two days a week and focuses solely on Brookhaven zoning and nuisance violations, such as dilapidated housing, illegal apartments and excessive noise. The court is located within Sixth District Court in Patchogue.

The opening of the court, which is similar to Babylon's community court, is part of a new commitment by the town to force code offenders to comply with laws, said Supervisor Mark Lesko. The town has too often allowed code violators to merely pay a fine rather than fix up properties, Lesko said.

"We can go after suburban slumlords and serial offenders" through the new court, Lesko said, adding that the court "will allow for swifter justice on quality-of-life cases."

Brookhaven town attorneys will serve as prosecutors in the court's cases, town officials said. The court will have a dedicated judge, District Court Judge Stephen Ukeiley, court officials said.

Ukeiley said the court will be open every Monday. Thursdays are also available, he said. Ukeiley described the court as up and running now.

Madeleine Fitzgibbon, supervising judge of Suffolk's District Court, called the new court "a commitment . . . to help assist the towns in hearing these cases in an expeditious manner."

The court will also be used to prosecute the town's most egregious code violators, Lesko said. He cited a Mastic Beach home that was the site of 85,000 pounds of garbage in July as the kind of property that will be targeted.