Berland States “If you have a letter in Lieu, there is nothing we can do!”

Public Safety & Berland tell Citizens for Huntington Code Enforcement Group. “If you have A Letter in Lieu, there is nothing we can do!”

Starting in December 0f 2010, a concerned group of citizens formed the Citizens for Huntington Code Enforcement group, which now has 400 members.  Their goal is to target illegal housing and to help the town of Huntington get all the information needed to ticket, process and cleanup the illegal housing in the town. 50+ property’s were tagged by the group here are some examples.

Some Complaints brought to town’s attention:

• 171 Little Plains road, Elwood
• 56 West Hills Road, South Huntington
• 58 Scott Street, Dix Hills
• 28 Columbia Street, Hunt. Sta.
• 21 Semond Rd, Huntington
• 23 Roosevelt Ave, Greenlawn

Many of those tagged like 28 Columbia or 56 West Hills Rd or 7 Tower Street were brought to the attention of the town and Berland’s Office,  had “letters in lieu” or no certificate of occupancy, etc.. The group started to have follow-up meetings monthly with Berland, Public Safety and Town Attorney’s office.

Some Properties with Letters in Lieu:

• 7 Tower Street Don Pius Owner
• 51 E 2^nd Street Don Pius Owner
• 28 Columbia Street Cathleen Carrano (Relative of Vengroff 22 West Hills Fire killed 3 with some 22 people living there)
• 91 Wyman Ave Don Pius Owner
• 15 Academy Place Don Pius Owner
• 19 Church Street Don Pius Owner
• 321 Depot Road Don Pius Owner
• 23 TUTHILL ST , Don Pius Owner
• 32 VIRGINIA AVE ,HUNTINGTON, Don Pius Owner
• 18 SMITH ST , Greenlawn, Don Pius Owner
• 21 Tower St HS, Don Pius Owner
• 63 COLUMBIA ST ,HS, Don Pius Owner
• 4 COLUMBIA ST, HS, Huntington Community Development Agency Owner
• 14 COLUMBIA ST ,HS, Don Pius Owner
• 160 1ST AVE ,HS, Don Pius Owner
• 42 E 10TH ST ,HS Don Pius Owner
• 57 DEPOT RD ,HS Don Pius Owner Converted 1 to 2 family ZBA #9715 
• 150 1ST AVE ,HS, Don Pius Owner
• 59 WYMAN AVE ,HS Don Pius Owner
• 50 WYMAN AVE ,HS, Don Pius Owner
• 6 E 2ND ST ,HS Don Pius Owner
• 70 E 3RD ST ,HS Don Pius Owner
• 40 E 4TH ST ,HS Don Pius Owner
• 60 E 8TH ST ,HS Don Pius Owner
• 68 RUTGERS LN ,Greenlawn Don Pius Owner ZBA 1997 legalized w/LL

Some members that attended those meetings were Tom DiGiacomo,  Lauren Meagher and Vicki B. At many of those meetings the town officials and Berland often stated to the group of 2-3 citizens about the filed claims,  that 28 Columbia and other properties like 7 Tower St had letters in lieu and there is nothing you can do.

The group protested that it sounded as if she is being dismissive instead of devising and executing a plan to deal with the problem.

As per Town Code a letter in lieu means that the property has shown continuous use as a multiple family property since 1934 before there were building codes and can be used as such going forward as long as the use continues. To read the Town code click here

Don Pius who has 90 properties in Huntington Township has 23 properties with “Letters in Lieu” and the town never can get him to clean up and adhere to building standards because of it.  One more Note the Town of Huntington operates 4 Columbia Street under the towns Community Development Agency and it has a letter in lieu also.