Huntington court date in a zoning dispute

The new year will mean a new court date for a business headed by Sheldon Sackstein, chairman of Action Long Island, one of the region's largest business groups. Sackstein for the better part of a decade has been operating a business in a Melville house that is zoned for residential use only.

Neighbors are complaining anew about traffic and poor maintenance of the grounds at 945 Walt Whitman Rd. Huntington Town has issued three summonses for zoning violations, beginning in 2002, according to A.J. Carter, a spokesman for Huntington Town. A court date is set for Jan. 14 in Huntington District Court.

Sackstein said Friday he is "waiting for a change of zone from the town." He said his building was not adversely affecting the area and declined further comment.

The first two zoning summonses were issued in 2002 and 2009. According to Carter, in 2002 summonses were issued to a chiropractic business at the address and also to Infinity Consulting Group.

Infinity was established and owned by Sackstein and bought the building, according to a deposition filed in response to a lawsuit by a neighbor about a boundary dispute unrelated to the town's citation.

The chiropractic business paid a $2,000 fine, and the violation against Infinity was dismissed, Carter said. Sackstein's daughter, Karen Sackstein, a chiropractor, also worked there in the early 2000s, according to his deposition.

In 2009 the town issued a summons to Infinity and to Sackstein & Co., a certified public accounting  firm operated by Sackstein, for violating zoning laws, according to Carter. Infinity paid a $1,000 fine, and the case against Sackstein and Co. was dismissed, the spokesman said.

In October this year the town cited Infinity in the case that is pending.

There are 14 homes near No. 945. Neighbors said they have complained for years at zoning hearings and to town officials about cars outside the house, grounds that have not been kept up, the depreciation of their property, and about strangers in the neighborhood at night. Sackstein testified in the boundary dispute lawsuit that he lives in Huntington, not at No. 945.

Neighbor Dorothea Fitzsimmons contended in an interview the property is being modified "for the purpose of continuing its commercial use, forever altering the residential nature and value of the property."

Carter said, "We've taken action against him. We have brought another action. It's whatever remedies the judge orders."

In the early 2000s Sackstein tried to have the property rezoned to allow commercial use, but the town denied his request. He sued in State Supreme Court in Riverhead and won. The town appealed, and it won.

For three decades Sackstein has been a well-known figure in Long Island business and government circles. He founded Action Long Island in 1982, primarily to lobby the state Department of Transportation to improve traffic flow along the Route 110 corridor. Action Long Island has broadened to include environmental, health and education issues.