Residents of North Amityville mobile home park want evictions halted

Residents of a North Amityville mobile home park who are facing eviction are asking an appeals court to stop development of the site.

The motion, filed in the appellate division of state Supreme Court in Brooklyn on Monday, asks for a stay of an earlier decision made by Justice Joseph Pastoressa in Riverhead. In February, Pastoressa denied a request for preliminary injunctions and dismissed lawsuits filed by the Frontier Mobile Home Park's civic association. Pastoressa ruled that residents had not demonstrated "an imminent threat of irreparable harm" because eviction proceedings had not begun.

Earlier this month, park residents in the first phase of planned apartment development began receiving notices of eviction. The civic association has appealed Pastoressa's decisions and Monday's motion asks that redevelopment of the site be halted until the appeals have been heard.

Developer R Squared Real Estate Partners of Plainview wants to build 500 apartments and 42,000 square feet of retail on the 20-acre site, which has more than 300 mobile homes. Residents pay about $600 a month to rent the land.

R Squared notified the residents in 2011 that the land would be redeveloped and has offered residents in the first phase of construction a $20,000 relocation plan paid in installments once they vacate.

Last month, residents filed a federal discrimination suit against the developer and the town, alleging violations of the federal fair housing and civil rights acts. A hearing on that case is scheduled for September. The town has hired the law firm Rivkin Radler LLP in Uniondale for the case at a rate of $225 per hour.

R Squared did not respond to requests for comment. James Gaughran, attorney for R Squared, on May 23 wrote to the town's planning board to ask for more time to get a building permit and begin work on the site. Gaughran cited the mobile home park residents' federal lawsuit as well as the implementation of the relocation plan as reasons for the delay.

On Monday the planning board unanimously voted to grant an extension, which will expire in December.

Babylon Town and the developer have until June 25 to respond to the motion filed on Monday.