Beginning in March, landscapers who work in Southampton Village will be required to register.
Registration, per legislation passed last year by the Village Board, requires landscapers to submit proof of a valid and current Suffolk County home improvement license. It defines landscaper as “any person over the age of 18, corporation partnership or business entity of any form who tends, plants, installs, maintains, or repairs lawns, gardens, hedges, flower beds, shrubbery, trees, or landscaping of any kind on real property which such person or business entity does not own or at which s/he does not reside.”
Initially, the local law required landscapers to place registration stickers on their vehicles and to register by January of this year. When the new administration took office in July 2019, however, members felt the registration deadline should be moved to March to give them a chance to consider the mandate. They wondered whether landscapers could obtain home improvement licenses from Southampton Town instead of the county. Southampton Town has its own license process and license review board.
“We are currently under the jurisdiction of Suffolk County,” Southampton Village Board member Kimberly Allan said during a discussion of the registration law at the board’s January 21 meeting. Contractors procure county home improvement licenses to work in the village, but it was noted at the meeting that landscapers whose businesses are modest — those who may simply mow lawns and rake leaves — may not be aware they need the licenses.
Procuring the home improvement license from the county entails “a lot of hoops,” Ms. Allan pointed out. Members wanted to see if small-time, family-owned landscape businesses could avoid the hurdles obtaining a county permit entails.
The question arose whether two jurisdictions — the county and Southampton Town — can be authorized to enforce the licensing mandate.
Assistant Village Attorney Alexandra Halsey-Storch was directed to look into the question. On January 24, Village Administrator Russell Kratoville reported the results of Ms. Halsey-Storch’s analysis: “After research by Alexandra, it has been determined that the Village may not accept a Town [home improvement] license as a prerequisite to issuing a landscaper registration.”
During the Village Board meeting, members voted to hold a public hearing on adding a provision allowing the use of the town license instead of the county license to register. The board will rescind the resolution, Mr. Kratoville said.
The application for the two-year license from the town calls for the submission of a county business certificate or incorporation documents, proof of liability insurance and workers compensation, bank account information, two trade references, and a $200 fee.
By contrast, obtaining a county license is more expensive, with a $200 application fee plus a $500 license fee. It calls for the same proofs of liability and insurance and business, but also requires applicants to pass a written test on the content of New York State General Business Law and Suffolk County Code Chapter 563 “Provisions Applicable to All Licenses.” Businesses that use chemicals, pesticides or fertilizers must provide certificates from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, and, in the case of fertilizer, proof of a certificate of completion of a Suffolk County Nitrogen Fertilizer Turf Management Course.
