Village of Great Neck trustees grant permit extension with increasing payments

The Island Now

Village of Great Neck trustees are allowing a developer to again receive a building permit extension, but are making him pay the price.
Hooshang Nematzadeh, a Kings Point trustee and developer of the property at 85-93 Steamboat Road, requested two six-month extensions to complete the 10-unit townhouse development at Tuesday’s Board of Trustees meeting.
“The board has given him an extension on the permit that will get progressively more expensive as an incentive to complete the job,” village Clerk-Treasurer Joe Gill said.
Gill said  the project is about 80 percent complete, with issues pertaining to the importing of kitchen parts and the approaching winter season preventing the developer from placing plantings outside the development.
The first six-month extension, he said, was granted by the board at a cost of $15,000.
Gill said the board expects Nematzadeh to complete the project in six months, but granted the second six-month extension at a steeper cost so the project can no longer be delayed.
Each month the project is not completed during the first three months of the second extension will see Nematzadeh pay $5,000, he said, while each month for the next two months after that will cost him $10,000.
Gill said the final month will cost Nematzadeh $15,000.
In total, he faces up to $50,000 in additional charges if the development is not completed after six months.
The project was initially approved by the village’s Board of Zoning Appeals on Nov. 4, 2010, with Nematzadeh paying a $55,654 permit fee.
While the project was approved in 2010, Nematzadeh said construction did not begin until 2013 because he wanted to wait and offer the townhouses in a better real estate market.
He said construction was further delayed because he needed to build a 16,000-square-foot underground parking garage for residents, which took nine months.
Neighbors surrounding the project have complained at past meetings that  Nematzadeh failed to build according to plans approved by the village’s zoning board.
The development was given four notices of violations since 2014, but village records showed that all violations were brought into compliance and dismissed.

By Joe Nikic

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