Suffolk mobile home park closer to closure
Elvis Jr. shows off his bicycle skills by riding up and down his street in the Frontier Park Trailer Park in Amityville. (Mar. 20, 2011) Credit: Nancy Borowick
Babylon Town's Zoning Board of Appeals has approved variances for a planned apartment complex by a major developer that would displace hundreds of residents in a North Amityville mobile home park.
The board last week unanimously approved the variances sought by R Squared Llc, which included a request to make some of the buildings four stories high. R Squared, a partnership between cousins Gregg and Mitchell Rechler, has proposed building 500 units and retail on the 20-acre Frontier Mobile Home Park site, on which sits more than 400 mobile homes. The developer has said 100 of the units will be deemed affordable housing with possible rents of $1,400 a month.
While town officials have said that even without development, the park faces closure for health and safety violations, residents have protested R Squared's plans.
Many of the residents, who spent tens of thousands on their homes but pay $635 in monthly rent for the land, say they will not be able to afford the new apartments. The developer has offered $20,000 in relocation assistance to each member of the park's civic association.
The association's lawyer, William Rapp, has indicated that the group will likely take legal action against R Squared. Rapp contends that under the state's real property law, residents of the park should have been given the option to buy the land when the property title was transferred in 2009.
Katherine Heaviside, a spokeswoman for R Squared, did not provide comment.
The Suffolk County Planning Commission submitted a letter to the board in which it also unanimously approved the development, but it asked the board to consider nearly a dozen suggestions.
Among those suggestions were adding more affordable housing units and conducting more comprehensive parking and traffic studies.
A town spokesman said the comments will be considered.
In addition to four-story buildings, R Squared was approved for an increase in the number of units allowed and fewer than the normally required parking spaces.
The developer must next receive approval from the town planning board, which will hold a public hearing on the matter before a vote.
