Bay Shore school board suing to stop sale of American Legion chapter building
The Bay Shore American Legion Post 365 announced the pending sale of its chapter building in February due to declining membership, forcing the chapter to downsize. Credit: Johnny Milano
The Bay Shore school district board is suing to stop the sale of the American Legion building on East Main Street.
The lawsuit claims the district had “right of first refusal to purchase” the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial building, and that Islip Town and American Legion Post 365 in Bay Shore are in breach of contract. Conditions set in the building's 1920 deed states the property can only be sold to the local board of education, the Town of Islip or “any other political subdivision” of the town, court documents show.
The building was built after World War I on land donated by a local family that, with the public, funded the building's construction.
The complaint also names Frank Bono of Bay Shore, who is in the process of buying the building from the legion, his attorney Jim Murphey said Wednesday.
The school board filed the complaint with the Suffolk County Supreme Court on May 16.
According to court documents, the school district in 2003 deeded the property to the Bay Shore chapter under the provision that the chapter follow the restrictions from 1920, including that it maintain the property as a community center and a memorial to those who served in World War I.
But Mark Anderson, an attorney representing Post 365, said the restrictions were “legally removed [in 2022] through a court action, and it was approved by the Town of Islip, which is what the covenant requires."
"It's hard for me to also believe the school was unaware of the board meetings where the town voted on this and said it was okay,” he said.
Post 365 announced the pending sale of its building in February due to declining membership, forcing the chapter to downsize. The building is expensive to maintain, post commander and trustee Chester Striplin told Newsday at the time.
American Legion posts are primarily funded through membership dues.
Striplin also said the owner planned to “keep the historic attitude of the building” and its sale would not impact chapter activities.
The Bay Shore chapter sued the Town of Islip in December 2021, according to court documents, seeking to modify or remove restrictive covenants from the 1920 deed without notifying the school district, according to court documents.
In April 2022, the legion told the town it could no longer afford to maintain the property and was in contract to sell it — again, without notifying the school district, according to the complaint.
The town and legion then moved to settle the 2021 lawsuit, agreeing to remove the restrictive covenants on the building after a July 2022 public hearing, the suit states.
The Islip Town Board after the hearing removed the condition limiting who the property could be sold to and added a clause stating “any future use of the building will require any and all requisite approvals from the Town of Islip.”
The school district is asking the court to nullify those changes, recognize the district's rights to the property, and issue a court order to prevent its sale. The district is also seeking monetary damages.
Islip spokeswoman Caroline Smith said the town does not comment on pending litigation.
A Bay Shore school district spokeswoman also said the district does not comment on pending litigation.
"We obviously think that it is not meritorious," said Murphey, Bono's attorney, adding he’s hopeful the parties can reach an “amicable resolution.”
Anderson, the lawyer representing Post 365, said, “This is a veterans organization that's going to be using the proceeds of this sale for the benefit of veterans. No one's making any money from this.”
Brianne Ledda covers the Town of Islip for Newsday. She previously covered Southold and Greenport for The Suffolk Times and is a graduate of Stony Brook University.
