Two local construction companies are scheduled on Tuesday to inspect a dilapidated home at 8 Sumter Ave. that has been the source of repeated complaints from neighbors and prepare bids for both the reconstruction and demolition of the home, Village of East Williston officials said Monday.
Village of East Williston Mayor David Tanner told the board of trustees that Williston Park- based Colonial Crafters and Amport Design & Construction in New Hyde Park were expected make bids on the work on Thursday.
But village attorney Jeffrey Blinkoff cautioned that any work considered by the board could be delayed by a suit challenging the village planning board’s denial of a request to subdivide the property.
Blinkoff said he received a call from John Muzio the home’s owner, “hinting” that he might attempt to overturn the board’s decision.
“I got a call today saying they’re running to court with what’s going on now,” Blinkoff said. “I don’t think what they’ve got now has any traction.”
But former village Trustee James Daw expressed concern about Muzio.
“If the court grants him leeway, there’s no telling where we’ll be a year from today,” Daw said. “It wouldn’t surprised me if he has something in his back pocket.”
Muzio, who Daw described as a “very skillful litigant,” has represented himself in court proceedings about the Sumter Avenue house.
The board received a ruling in Nassau Supreme Court last year following a protracted court battle with Muzio, giving the board the right to demolish or refurbish the house. But the board delayed its decision pending the outcome of an application before the planning board by BNL Construction to subdivide the property. BNL officials said they intended to demolish the one home and build two in its place.
Colonial Crafters offered a bid in January of $30,000 to demolish the house, not including the cost of removing asbestos and raccoons inhabiting the structure, or $320,000 to refurbish it, according to Village Clerk Marie Hausner. The bid has since expired, necessitating the new bids.
“When do we expect the bulldozers to show up?” former village Trustee John Ferro asked.
“What we’ve done is everything we can do,” Tanner said. “There’s nothing this board has done to drag its feet.”
“So we could still be here a year from now sitting in this same position,” Ferro said.
Neighbors of the home at 8 Sumter Ave. have repeatedly complained about the home’s decrepit state, unkempt yard and the presence of raccoons.
Deputy Mayor Bonnie Parente recently said the board had already determined that the least costly option to the village was the home’s demolition.
“It’s simple math. At the moment, according to the bids we received, that is the logical choice,” Parente said.
Tanner has said the village intends to recoup the cost of demolishing or reconstructing the house from Muzio, but expressed doubts Tuesday that it would.
“It’s possible we won’t be compensated back for it,” Tanner said.
During Monday’s meeting, he said he is seeking an update on the liens against the property.
Village Trustee Robert Vella Jr. said the village should also get a valuation of what the Sumter Avenue property would be worth vacant.
After the meeting, he said the village’s total cost for resolving problems with the house could exceed the value of the land itself.
“It may be a situation where we’re going to have to take a bit of a hit,” Vella said.
On another controversial issue, Vella said the village board had saved money by its filing of two lawsuits against the Williston Park Village Board over increases in the rates Williston Park charges East Williston for water.
“If we didn’t have this litigation, we’d have $100,000 in costs of water from Williston Park,” he said in response to a resident’s question about the village’s legal costs for the suit.
Ferro challenged Vella’s assessment, saying, “So we’re projecting that we saved $100,000.”
Ferro noted Blinkoff’s fee for the suits was $30,000 and pointed out that the suits remained unresolved.
East Williston has refused to pay the increases to Williston Park during the litigation.
Blinkoff said both lawsuits are in state Appellate Court, with final briefs on the second suit due in early October.
The Village of East Williston first filed suit after Williston Park announced in April 2011 that it would be raising East Williston’s water rates from $2.99 per thousand gallons to $3.83 per thousand gallons.
The Williston Park village board voted in August 2012 to raise East Williston’s water rates a second time – 13 percent increase to $4.33 per 1,000 gallons of water from the $3.83 per 1,000 gallons of water – prompting a second lawsuit.
East Williston won the first round in the original suit in Nassau County Supreme Court last year with a ruling that the Williston Park Village Board should have held a public hearing before raising the water rates.
The two sides have had Intermittent talks during the court proceedings – the most recent in May – that have not yielded a settlement.
Vella declined to comment when Ferro asked him about the talks on Monday night.
“We are trying to look into options to resolve it,” Vella said.
After the meeting, Vella and Tanner, who have represented East Williston in the most recent discussions, said no future meetings are scheduled with Williston Park officials. But they did not rule out further discussions.
“If there’s something to talk about, we’re willing to talk,” Vella said.
In other developments:
• Tanner announced Village Trustee Caroline DeBenedittis has been selected as a Nassau County Woman of the Year.
