Islandia Mayor Allan Dorman sues neighbor in property dispute

Islandia Mayor Allan Dorman has sued his neighbor, a village security guard, over disputed property between their homes, court records show.

James Tortorici and his family were served with the suit, filed in Suffolk County Supreme Court, on Tuesday, according to Tortorici. The legal action is the latest development in a yearslong dispute over the strip, which Tortorici — in a notice of claim filed more than a year ago — alleged the mayor has conspired to acquire.

In the suit, Dorman requested a judgment barring the Tortorici family from a claim to the land and establishing him and his wife, Patricia Dorman, as the “lawful owners" of the parcel, which is about 780 square feet.

The mayor says in the complaint that he has “continuously landscaped” the land over the years. He also alleges that, for more than 40 years, the disputed property has been “exclusively accessible” from his yard.

The suit, filed in December, follows a notice of claim delivered by Tortorici to the village about a year earlier alleging that Dorman and his wife have continuously trespassed on Tortorici's property in a “conspiracy to acquire” the land.

The mayor and his attorney did not respond to requests for comment. Tortorici also declined to comment.

According to the notice, the dispute began after Tortorici applied in 2022 for a permit to install an outdoor pavilion in his backyard. As part of the application, he submitted a survey to Patricia Dorman, who is also the village clerk, that indicated the Dormans’ fence encroached on his property.

The mayor then informed Tortorici that the requested permit wouldn't be issued unless he signed the disputed land over to the Dormans, court records say.

As Tortorici continued to advocate for the permit, village officials informed him that his application should not include “the strip of land because that will become part of the mayor’s property,” and they did not include the land as part of Tortorici’s property in village records, according to the notice of claim.

Tortorici installed the pavilion without a permit on June 20, 2023, records say, prompting the mayor to install a new 6-foot-high vinyl fence on the property in mid-July of that year and instruct a village building inspector to start issuing violations to Tortorici for the pavilion until he signed over the disputed land.

The notice of claim also says the mayor was "overtly hostile" to Tortorici at village offices, causing him to fear for his job.

Attorney Steven Bertolino, who is representing the Tortoricis, said he didn’t file a lawsuit after the notice of claim because he’d hoped to settle the issue outside of court.

By Brianne Ledda

brianne.ledda@newsday.com@brianne_ledda

Brianne Ledda covers the Town of Islip for Newsday. She previously covered Southold and Greenport for The Suffolk Times and is a graduate of Stony Brook University.