Oyster Bay supervisor seeks variance for deck work

Oyster Bay Town Supervisor Joseph Saladino’s application for a variance at his waterfront home in East Massapequa is scheduled to be considered by the Zoning Board of Appeals on Thursday.

The variance is required because his side yards don’t have sufficient setbacks required under town code, according to the application, to replace a wood deck and install a hot tub at the back of the house.

“Because his property is substandard in size, most changes require a variance,” said Saladino’s attorney, Gregory Carman, Jr., who also serves as Oyster Bay Deputy Town Supervisor. 

Under town code, the house is required to have a minimum 10-foot setback on one side yard and a total of at least 25 feet for both side yards combined. The setback for the proposed deck is 9.2 feet and the total for both side yards is 17.5 feet, the application states.

Oyster Bay in 2013 did not require permits to repair Sandy damage as long as the property was restored to its previous dimensions. However, Saladino's application in February 2017 to maintain existing work under a town amnesty program states the home was altered, including extending the attached garage, relocating a bathroom, altering the kitchen and dining area, adding a window, two sliding glass doors and the deck . 

The town's amnesty program began in June 2016 and was extended twice. It allowed residents to apply for building permits to maintain work that had been undertaken on their homes without permits from the town building department. 

On July 11, 2017, the town board at its regular meeting voted to extend the permit amnesty program for six months.

Saladino said after questioning at that meeting about his participation in the amnesty, “I do not derive any benefit from this program,” according to a transcript of the meeting. “I'm in compliance with all the proper paperwork being filed and just like everyone else, I will continue to follow the building department's direction in rebuilding my home.”

Saladino has said his home was devastated by Sandy and that he spent hundreds of thousands of dollars repairing it. 

“This process [the variance hearing] proves that I take all the steps that we require of everyone else and that I do things by the book," Saladino said in a statement Monday. "This project brings me one step closer to finishing my home after being destroyed by superstorm Sandy.”  

A building department notice shows Saladino's application to maintain the existing deck was rejected because it didn’t have proper setbacks and concluded he needed to go before the zoning board by June 22, 2017.

Saladino was issued a permit on Aug. 11, 2017 for the existing work on his house, including the deck, with a deadline to obtain a certificate of occupancy by Nov. 9 of that year. He received three extensions and was issued a certificate of occupancy on Aug. 14, 2018. The deck was not included in that certificate and was later applied for separately. 

In December, Saladino repaid $15,803.88 for Sandy disaster aid that he received through New York Rising to help rebuild his home after a state agency sued him. The state said in its lawsuit that Saladino was ineligible for the money because it was duplicative of insurance money he received for repairs. The state dropped the suit after he repaid the aid.