A better role for Babylon's new rental permit board

The Town of Babylon’s creation of a rental permit board starts with good intentions. The goal, after all, is to provide a system that can address problems with bad landlords and problematic properties. Under the plan the town approved last month, a seven-member board would review all apartments in the town, grant new permits and review old ones. Accessory apartments would be excluded. Babylon is rightly concerned about quality-of-life issues and assuring that landlords take care of their properties. But the powers of the board remain too broad. It could easily become another layer of bureaucracy, standing in the way of development, and the creation of much-needed rental housing.

To avoid these potential pitfalls, Babylon should consider limits to the board’s structure and reach. It can apply to single- or two-family homes that are rented without landlords on premises. But it shouldn’t include multifamily apartment buildings, which shouldn’t face yet another hurdle in the always uphill battle toward approval. And its power over landlords who accept housing vouchers should be limited, so the board is not used as an obstacle to providing such housing to low-income residents.

Also, off-site landlords should have a reasonable time frame in which to make repairs or other fixes, and complaints must have substance and undergo a review before the board takes action.

This is a time when Long Island needs all possible housing options, critical to the region’s economic comeback. Local officials shouldn’t be adding bureaucracy that could make it harder for landlords and developers to work here. Babylon must find a way to balance additional tenant protections and quality-of-life concerns with opening its doors to rental housing.

— The editorial board