Mastic Beach Officials Share Village Incorporation Successes With Hampton Bays Group

Mastic Beach Village officials had a message Monday night for Hampton Bays Civic Association members considering incorporation as a means of having greater control over their hamlet: it won’t be easy.

Mayor Bill Biondi, along with former Mayor Paul Breschard, Zoning Board Chairman Chris Ricciardi and Mastic Beach resident Stephen Colaianni, outlined the years of dedication it took to complete the process of incorporating their village. The task came at a cost of $40,000, which the group raised with donations and by hosting fundraisers.

“It’s been such a great satisfaction in my life to be a part of that,” Mr. Breschard told the estimated 100 people who packed the town senior center on Ponquogue Avenue.

The Mastic Beach residents first formed the Pattersquash Creek Civic Association, and, later, a village exploratory committee with members who dedicated thousands and thousands of hours to their objective of forming a village, voting democratically on every decision along the way. The sweat they put into the undertaking paid off, they said, when the public approved their village’s creation in 2010.

“It’s been a long battle, but Mastic Beach has come a long way,” Mr. Biondi said.

Much to the pleasure of the Hampton Bays community members listening in, the Mastic Beach officials shared some positive news. They said they were able to cut taxes for their residents by an average of $73 per year, explaining that the savings comes largely from a slash in the price of the new village’s twice-a-week garbage pickup service.

George and Nancy Land, who live in Hampton Bays, said they were pleased to hear about that savings. They have lived in the hamlet since the early 1960s and recalled voting against incorporation twice—once later that decade and again in the 1970s.

Mr. Breschard pointed out that the taxes Mastic Beach residents paid to the Town of Brookhaven were not all that hefty, accounting for a few hundred dollars a year, but once the village incorporated, officials were able to use those dollars efficiently and with the benefit of being free of debt and contracts. “It was a lot when we collected it and kept it, and we use it and use it more wisely,” he said.

The struggle and frustration of Mastic Beach residents with Brookhaven Town largely paralleled that of Hampton Bays residents with Southampton Town. The Mastic Beach residents said they grew exasperated with the number of abusive landlords neglecting rental properties and taking advantage of tenants. They criticized Brookhaven Town code enforcement officers for failing to properly prosecute those who violated the town code.

“What had been an absolute paradise had become something else,” Mr. Breschard said. That improved once the village incorporated, largely due to the fact that the village’s justice court was efficient in fining violators of the code, he said.

“The court is probably the single most important thing,” he said, explaining that the village judge lives in the village and, therefore, can witness the problems for himself.

The Mastic Beach officials also said that Brookhaven Town failed to fine landlords who rented out homes or apartments without permits. Since the village incorporated, the number of rental permits has jumped from 500 to 1,600, according to Timothy Brojer, the Mastic Beach Village administrator. The permitting process generates revenue for the village, and also gives the village greater oversight over rental properties because inspectors visit each individual site. Mr. Biondi said he has seen many homes that were previously rented out illegally put up for sale.

“We don’t want to drive the poor people out—we want them to live with dignity,” Mr. Breschard said. “That’s what we’re all about, making sure the housing stock is livable.”

Also in attendance at the meeting was Joseph Prokop, an attorney specializing in the creation of villages and an attorney for five villages in the county, including West Hampton Dunes. The Mastic Beach officials hired Mr. Prokop to help guide them through the incorporation process. He also helped in the creation of West Hampton Dunes and Sagaponack villages, as well as several other villages.

Mr. Prokop explained that under state law, the new village could be no larger than 5 square miles, unless residents choose to incorporate an existing municipal taxing district. The Hampton Bays School District is about 12 square miles. The Mastic Beach representatives said they chose to incorporate their zip code, and they met the required footage by excluding a portion of Fire Island and properties within the William Floyd School District, which sit on the outskirts of the village.

Once boundaries are determined, Mr. Prokop said, the group must complete a meets and bounds description for the entire area, which is an involved process. The Mastic Beach officials also detailed the tedious process of compiling census data with pinpoint accuracy, which took about a year.

Under state law, Hampton Bays residents would be required to collect signatures on a petition that total 20 percent of the registered voters within the proposed village’s boundaries. They must submit that to the town supervisor, who must hold a public hearing to determine the validity of that petition. After that occurs and a vote is scheduled, residents would need just a simple majority of those who turn out to vote for the measure to pass.

As far as the town goes, Mr. Prokop said that a “sophisticated supervisor” would be neutral on the idea of incorporation. Though the town would lose a portion of its tax base, it also no longer would be responsible for providing services in that area, he said.

Hampton Bays residents, if they do incorporate, would also have to decide what services would be contracted to the town, such as its police protection and highway services. Mastic Beach is patrolled by the Suffolk County Police Department. Bruce King, the president of the Hampton Bays Civic Association, said the hamlet would most likely continue to rely on the Southampton Town Police Department, though he said that is a decision the residents would come to down the road.

“It’s safe to say the town said, ‘You’re on your own—you have everything,’” Mr. Biondi said, explaining that he and other Mastic Beach Village officials were anticipating signing a contract with the Brookhaven Town Highway Department, but the town denied that contract at the last minute. Despite that shock, he said the village has been successful in acquiring its own trucks and equipment, and officials were pleased with the response after Hurricane Sandy.

Though many residents shared optimism over the prospect of lower taxes and tighter control, they also seemed to recognize that the process would be more of a challenge for Hampton Bays, which is more than twice the size of Mastic Beach Village, with nearly 13,000 residents, according to the 2010 census.

“If they had a hard time, it will be 10 times harder for us,” Jackie Russo, a Hampton Bays Civic Association director, said after the meeting.

Mr. King said he was surprised with the positive questions and responses he received from community members. He said the next step is meeting with members of the Concerned Citizens of Hampton Bays, a new civic group, and gathering community members who are willing to put in the necessary time and work, as the Mastic Beach representatives did.

“I think their enthusiasm took over the room,” Mr. King said.