Parcels Being Donated to Town of Babylon as Part of “Wyandanch Rising” Process

Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy announced today his intentions to provide a stimulus to the Wyandanch community through the creation of affordable housing.

Levy’s latest legislation will remove three adjoining lots from the county’s auction process and transfer them to the town of Babylon. The town will then provide them to various non-profit housing agencies to develop homes for qualifying individuals at an affordable price. Town officials intend to commit the lots to affordable housing in compliance with the “Wyandanch Rising” community visioning plan conducted in 2003.The county has invested over $43,000 in total for clean up expenses of the properties since taking ownership and could have auctioned them off to bring in revenue, but deemed them to be better used for affordable housing purposes.

“While we could have received a substantial amount of revenue from selling the properties, it was deemed to be in the community’s best interest if the properties were used for affordable housing and downtown revitalization purposes,” Levy said.

The three lots are located on Jackson Street in Wyandanch. Each property will be transferred to the town of Babylon through the county’s 72-h program. This program allows the county to transfer properties acquired through non-payment of taxes to other municipalities – such as towns and villages – to be used for affordable housing purposes. Levy has used the 72-h program extensively throughout his administration to provide affordable housing to the young and working families in Suffolk County.

Under the Suffolk County Tax Act, when taxes are not paid by property owners it is the county that pays all other municipalities the monies owed and ultimately takes title to the property. The 72-h provision of New York State General Municipal Law allows the county to transfer property to another municipality for certain purposes.

Levy submitted his legislation transferring the parcels to Babylon at the May 12 meeting of the Suffolk County Legislature. With the Legislature’s passing of the resolution at today’s general meeting, Levy can now sign off on the process and complete the property transfer with the town of Babylon.

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