Hempstead agrees to tighten house size limits in Levittown

The Hempstead Town Board unanimously approved reducing the size of houses that can be built in the Levittown Planned Residence District after a hearing that extended over two meetings.

The change, approved 6-0 Tuesday, means that houses can no longer be built out to 30% of the lot size and now must be no more than 27.5% of the lot.

The board’s action drew cheers from residents who decried what they saw as “McMansions” changing the character of their neighborhood.

“This is an issue that is changing the character of the area, changing the character of the Levittown neighborhood,” Town Supervisor John Ferretti, a lifelong Levittown resident, said Tuesday.

He cited a Newsday article that quoted an architect who said developers were targeting Levittown because they could build bigger.

“It is my belief that if this is passed today, that Levittown will no longer be targeted by these builders,” Ferretti said Tuesday.

Most of the speakers Tuesday and at the earlier portion of the hearing April 28 spoke in favor of the measure. Developers have said it would hurt them financially on projects that were awaiting building permit approvals from the town.

No one from the developer’s side spoke Tuesday.

Lisa Tintle, 71, a retired teacher from Levittown, told the board that her lifelong home community was turning into Queens. “These houses that are growing up around our town are hideous, first of all, and they don't represent the community,” Tintle told the board. “They're just so big.”

Birti Kaur, president of AB Development, spoke April 28, asking the board to allow projects that had already submitted plans to the building department to be grandfathered in under the code as it had been.

Ferretti initially said at that portion of the hearing that projects could still get permits under the existing code. Later at that day's hearing, however, he reversed himself and said that projects whose permits had been held up would be subject to the board’s future decision on the zoning amendment.

Town officials did not respond to questions about the number of properties that had applied for permits under the old code but which the town had held up.

On Tuesday, Kaur told Newsday she applied in January for building permits to build five homes in Levittown, but the town didn't act on them, leaving her investments in limbo while monthly carrying costs accrued.

“All we know is we have to go back to the drawing board and we have to start over and spend thousands of dollars more,” Kaur said. “I have multiple projects in the town and the fact that I have to go back and redo plans and have to spend more money on the architects is ridiculous.” 

The board’s decision has the development community discussing options, she said Tuesday.

“Everyone's definitely very frustrated and it could turn out to be a lawsuit at some point,” Kaur said.

The change is likely to decrease property values for those houses that did not expand to the 30% building area when it was still possible, said Jonathan Miller, chairman of Manhattan-based Miller Samuel Real Estate Appraisers & Consultants.

“When people buy, let's call it the smaller house, they're buying it with an option to expand in the future,” Miller said. “That becomes an asset to the house … and when you take that away, it reduces the value because it removes that upside potential down the road, the ability to convert it to a larger property.”

Moving in the opposite direction, owners of properties that were built to the larger size before the change will likely see their values increase, Miller said.

“The number of already expanded homes will remain finite, which will put upward pressure on value in a market where there's plenty of upward pressure on value,” Miller said.