Smithtown preps to clean up abandoned properties

Town of Smithtown officials are preparing to take the next step in their attempt to clean up three abandoned properties.

Town workers could soon be authorized by the town board to enter the properties — including two vacant houses in Kings Park and a dormant construction company near the Smithtown Long Island Rail Road station — to remove trash, overgrown brush and weeds.

A public hearing on the action is scheduled for Dec. 11 at 2 p.m. at Town Hall.

Town officials say the parcels’ owners have not complied with written orders to clean up their land.

The three properties are among 20 targeted for cleanup by town officials because of neighbors’ complaints.

The owner of the Kings Park properties, Frederic Powell, 57, of East Meadow, is serving a 4-year federal prison sentence for unrelated bank and wire fraud.

Real estate records list the owner of the Smithtown property, at 10 Fairview Ave., as Fairview Holding Corp. of Westhampton Beach.

Town officials have not estimated cleanup costs, which they say will be added to the property owners’ tax bills.