Renovation sought for old Amityville home

A century old home in Amityville could be the latest to benefit from a new program seeking private investment in Suffolk County's neglected historic structures.

The vacant, county-owned Trihy House sits within the village-managed Nautical Park at Merrick Road and Ocean Avenue. County Legis. DuWayne Gregory (D-Amityville) has proposed a resolution to add it to the new Historic Structure Restoration Pilot Program.

"It's really a waste if we can't use it," said Gregory, who is also the majority leader. He noted the dilapidated home would have cost $100,000 to renovate in a time of dire county fiscal straits. "So if we have private interests that are willing, it's only in taxpayers' best interest."

Approved last month, the program -- sponsored by Legis. Wayne Horsley (D-Babylon) -- makes qualifying county properties eligible for private uses, including residential and commercial.

The other properties in the program are the Elwood Schoolhouse in Huntington, the Black Duck Lodge in Flanders, Robinson Duck Farm in Yaphank, the Robert Cushman Murphy House in Manorville and the Commendinger House in Ronkonkoma.

Horsley said formal requests to gauge interest in the properties have yet to be made, but he can see the Black Duck Lodge as a bed-and-breakfast, and other locations are perfect for office use or as homes for veterans. For commercial uses, the program dictates that part of the site be maintained for the public.

"Your imagination could stretch to the limits," Horsley said, adding many of the properties are now subject to vandalism. "They're wasting away, and we're finding ourselves, as protectors, actually destroying our own heritage."

Suffolk parks officials have said they could envision the program, if successful, being expanded to many of the county's other 240 historic buildings.

As for adding a sixth property before the others have been improved, Horsley had no objections. The Trihy House's main outstanding issue, as expressed last week by the county Council on Environmental Quality, is determining maintenance responsibility. Amityville has been handling the park's general upkeep.

"We haven't had the funds to do anything with it," village Mayor Peter Imbert said of the home. "Other than putting a roof on it, nothing's been done. It could use significant investment."