Amityville puts the brakes on new multiunit housing for 6 months

The Amityville board of trustees has approved a six-month moratorium on new multiunit housing in an effort to evaluate the impacts of its current housing after a building boom the last few years.

The board on Monday night unanimously approved the temporary moratorium, 5-0, receiving a round of applause for the move from residents in attendance. The vote followed a hearing where a half dozen members of the public voiced their support for the new legislation, which can be extended by another six months before it expires.

"Housing is a very huge issue on the Island, but we also want to preserve the charm of the village," resident Tom Howard told the board.

The moratorium would stop the "approval or construction of new or additional multiple dwellings" in Amityville, including apartments, condominiums, townhomes and accessory units.

Mayor Michael O’Neill said the village wants to pause these developments because a burst of multiunit housing in the past five years — including more than 100 units in the Village by the Bay development and more than 300 apartments at the AvalonBay complex — has led to questions about a strain on village services.

"We want to find out exactly what the impact these multiple dwelling units have," O’Neill said.

The mayor said the village will gather its own data from its police, fire and building departments, and use studies that were done about seven years ago as it began applying for the state’s Downtown Revitalization Initiative as a baseline. It will then send out a request for proposals to hire a company to analyze the data. The village received $10 million in state Downtown Revitalization Initiative funding in 2022 and is working on 11 projects that will use that money.

While speaking in support of the moratorium, several residents questioned the need to spend tax dollars to hire an outside company. Howard suggested knowledgeable former village officials could do the work voluntarily, while resident Wendy Canestro said the hiring "almost seems like it’s a crutch" for the board’s decision-making.

"Just make the decision for what’s in the best interest of the village," she told the board. "Please don’t spend our money just for you to make a decision."

O’Neill told Newsday after the hearing that the board would take residents’ suggestions under consideration.

"We will do an RFP so we have options as we delve through all of the data that we have," he said. "Whether we use them or not, we don’t need to make that decision right now."

O’Neill said he hopes to get the request for proposals out by the end of the year.

By Denise M. Bonilla

denise.bonilla@newsday.comdenisebonilla

Denise Bonilla has worked at Newsday since 2003 and covers the Town of Babylon, including the villages of Lindenhurst and Amityville.