Massapequa 'zombie' house latest to be demolished in Oyster Bay

Town of Oyster Bay employees have demolished a Massapequa house that town officials said was abandoned and a nuisance.

The house on Alhambra Road was the 26th torn down by the town since 2017 under its “zombie home” law, under which Oyster Bay has obtained court orders to demolish dilapidated homes.

“This property has been inspected by our workforce several times, with multiple violations cited for lack of maintenance,” said Supervisor Joseph Saladino. “Town personnel repeatedly found deplorable conditions, as this property showed clear signs of neglect.”

The home was demolished Monday.

Public records show that the house’s former resident and owner died in 2015 and two creditors had sued to foreclose on the property. One of those creditors, Citibank N.A., had taken possession of the property in August 2016, court records show.

The town sued Citibank N.A. last year in New York State Supreme Court in Mineola in order to demolish the property as a nuisance. Town inspection reports show that the town boarded the property up in 2016. Most subsequent inspections found the property to be abandoned, secure and maintained, though it was cited on several occasions for violations including broken glass, overgrown vegetation and having a refrigerator in the driveway.

In September, Judge Randy Sue Marber granted a motion by the town to inspect the property. That inspection report, produced by Hauppauge-based Cashin Spinelli & Ferretti LLP, said that the house’s foundation had cracks and was in danger of structural failure. Marber issued a final order granting the town’s request to demolish the property last month.

A Citibank spokesperson wrote in an email Wednesday that the bank’s legal department was reviewing the judge’s order.

The same month Judge Marber granted the town’s motion for the inspection, Oyster Bay launched an online registry for residents to report abandoned properties in the town’s unincorporated areas.

“The Abandoned Property/Zombie Home Registry will help us continue to make headway with cleaning up these eyesores, and we encourage residents to serve as our eyes and ears by using this reporting system to help,” Councilman Louis Imbroto said in a statement announcing the registry’s launch.