Lindenhurst program for Sandy-damaged properties shows mixed results, residents say

A program designed to turn Superstorm Sandy-damaged properties in Lindenhurst into open space has improved the look of some neighborhoods, according to residents, but doubts remain over whether it has achieved intended storm-mitigation effects.

The state’s Lot Next Door initiative was first introduced in 2016, nearly four years after Superstorm Sandy hit on Oct. 29, 2012.

The program took storm-damaged properties that the state acquired through its NY Rising Enhanced Buyout program and offered the lots to neighbors to purchase and keep as open space in perpetuity.

New York purchased 610 buyout properties statewide for $240 million. Of those, the state paid $50 million for 129 properties that were then sold as part of Lot Next Door for $1.92 million, according to the Governor’s Office of Storm Recovery (GOSR). There were 23 lots on Long Island that were bought by the state for $11 million and sold to neighbors for $299,200.

Paul Onyx Lozito, chief strategy and program officer for GOSR Recovery, said in a statement that Lot Next Door has “eliminated flood risk to hundreds of homes and enabled residents and local land stewards to maintain properties across the state as gardens, recreation spaces, wetlands management, and a variety of other natural uses.” 

The state separately transferred another 39 lots to Lindenhurst Village, which then developed its own Lot Next Door program in 2019. As of last week, 25 lots had been sold for a total of $274,250, according to village records. The sales ranged from $3,000 to $22,800 and the lots varied in size from 1,510 square feet to 8,150 square feet.

Of the remaining 14 lots, one sale is pending, two are still in need of a buyer and two are tied up in litigation between the village and a neighbor. Several more remain indefinitely “on hold” and will likely not be sold, Mayor Mike Lavorata said.

“I’m happy because it would have been a maintenance nightmare for us to control,” he said. “People were able to increase the size of the property and we have the green space now.”

The properties come with covenants that dictate use. Structures such as garages are prohibited. With village board approval, owners can have decks, pools, sheds, gazebos and “recreational amenities in harmony with open space use” such as basketball and tennis courts.

Only a few variances have been issued so far, and those were for things such as a gazebo, a cement walkway and a paved driveway. The village’s code enforcement officers are checking the lots for compliance, Lavorata said.

“I like what I’ve seen so far, people have done a really nice job,” he said. “From an environmental standpoint it’s obviously better to have some more green space because it gives places for the water to be absorbed as opposed to having so many more homes.”

Because the buyout program was voluntary, it created a checkerboard effect in Lindenhurst. Residents — including those who purchased the properties through Lot Next Door — have questioned the overall environmental impact of the program. Some worry about how the lots will ultimately be used.

“The idea behind Lot Next Door is a beautiful one,” said Carmen Amador, 57, who purchased a 8,000 square-foot lot for $22,400. “We have more property, more room for our family … but do I feel that more should be done to ensure that these properties maintain their residential status and not be used as commercial properties? Absolutely.”

Marion Kluges, 72, had hoped to buy the lot next to her house. Her neighbor, Stephen Frisch, got to it first. Kluges said she doesn’t understand why the lots can have asphalt and artificial turf.

“I don’t get it, I thought it was supposed to be wetlands down here,” she said. “You say it has to be open, then you let them do what they want to do.”

Frisch, 66, said buying the 4,500 square-foot bayfront lot became imperative after the rotting bulkhead next door caused a 10-foot-wide sinkhole on his property. He has since fixed the bulkheading, added a basketball court and artificial turf and landscaped the property.

“I think the whole spirit of that program failed,” he said. “The whole buyout program did nothing for creating a buffer zone.”

Darlene Fantel, 58, and her husband Robert, 56, live on a street with 11 lots that have had little improvements so far. They said they have had to face trespassers and other quality-of-life issues.

“[The state] spent a lot of money and purchased here and there and that’s not really a way to make it efficient,” Robert Fantel said. “They could have taken that money and put it toward other parts of the resiliency effort that would have been more effective.”

Richard Murdocco, adjunct professor of environmental policy at Stony Brook University's School of Atmospheric and Marine Sciences, said Lot Next Door is collectively a good but ineffective idea.

“The neighborhood looks like it’s had its teeth punched out and the storm doesn’t care, ‘oh lot two is preserved, let’s avoid lot two and we’ll only damage lot three.'” That’s not how it works. You’re either all in or all out with storm resiliency.”

But Murdocco said, policymaking is incremental, and “some progress is better than no progress.”

With Arielle Martinez

By Denise M. Bonilla

denise.bonilla@newsday.comdenisebonilla

Denise Bonilla has worked at Newsday since 2003 and covers the Town of Babylon, including the villages of Lindenhurst and Amityville.