Town of babylon driveway rules

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Over the past year, the Town of Babylon, a densely settled pocket on Long Island's South Shore, has outlawed backyard wrestling rings, homes with two front doors and grass longer than eight inches.

Still, town leaders say, the quality of life in Babylon is not quite what it should be.

So today, the town supervisor, Steven Bellone, used language fit for a prosecutor's closing arguments in a murder trial to call for a new community court designed to crack down on residents whose debris-strewn yards, illegal basement apartments, noisy power tools and permitless porches have vexed their neighbors for years.

''We are sending a message to those people and those individuals who are serial code offenders, violating the rights of neighborhoods and communities by their activities,'' Mr. Bellone said today, speaking at a news conference held in front of a brown shingled home that neighbors say doubles as a used-car lot. ''We are coming after you. We are going to pursue you tirelessly until you come into compliance with the town code and you stop treating neighborhoods and communities with disrespect.''

Zoning violations in the Town of Babylon, which includes North Lindenhurst, are now handled in Suffolk County Second District Court. But that court, which also handles other matters, like landlord-tenant conflicts and small-claims cases, is clogged. Zoning cases are often postponed for months and even years, town leaders said. Some homeowners, they said, particularly those who reap profits from their violations, consider the occasional summons a cost of doing business.

''We are going to unclog the system, and we are going to get these cases moving,'' Mr. Bellone said. ''We will be relentless in that pursuit.''

The building he stood in front of, 233 50th Street, is a cozy-looking house with a front lawn decorated with squat bushes and plastic swans -- and two driveways that today were filled with cars with for-sale signs and two flatbed trucks. For years, neighbors have complained to the town, officials said, saying that Daniel Marcello, who lives there, has used it as a base for an auto-body and used-car business.

Since 1995, Mr. Marcello and his wife, Brenda, have received more than a dozen summonses, for violations that included keeping unregistered cars and storing commercial vehicles on residential property, according to town records. Town officials said that the couple had paid one $150 fine, but that most of their cases had been postponed and repostponed.

At times, neighbors said today, used cars line the street, a wide road with simple, tightly spaced homes festooned with Christmas wreaths and festive red bows. They also complained about Mr. Marcello's bright outdoor lights, which they say have a glare that prevents Vito and Joan Germinario from watching television in their living room, across the street.

''I had to get another TV,'' Mr. Germinario, 71, said today.

Mr. Marcello, 48, said that he did not recall receiving any summonses, and that his penchant for collecting old cars, tinkering with them and then, sometimes, selling them, is a hobby, not a business -- and certainly not a crime.

''My whole life is cars,'' he said, adding he would appear before the new court if summoned.

The new community court would require enabling legislation from the state, town leaders said, because decades ago, the Town of Babylon chose to be part of the District Court system. If the new court is approved, it will have concurrent jurisdiction with the District Court. Mr. Bellone also wants to create a quality-of-life task force, headed by Jack Farrell, a retired New York Police Department detective who is the head of public safety for the town, that would be charged with marshaling evidence and tracking down violators. A vacancy in the town attorney's office would be filled by a special prosecutor for quality-of-life issues.

The cost of hiring staff members would be covered by violators' fines, Mr. Bellone said.

In New York City, quality of life is a catchphrase often associated with distinctly urban issues, like panhandling and loud nightclubs. In the Town of Babylon, it means something different.

''We don't have the squeegee men, but we have the guy who runs a commercial operation out of his house,'' Mr. Bellone said. ''It's suburban quality of life.''

BABYLON, NY — Two men were injured and after a boat exploded in the driveway of a Long Island home on Thursday morning, Suffolk police said.

At about 11 a.m. two men were working on a boat in a driveway of a home on Bayview Avenue, when it exploded, according to police. One man was transported by police helicopter to Stony Brook University Hospital Medical Center, while the second man was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center in West Islip, police said.

The extent of their injuries is unclear.

Find out what's happening in Babylon Village with free, real-time updates from Patch.

Suffolk Arson Section detectives believe the cause of the explosion is accidental, police said.

The investigation is continuing.

Find out what's happening in Babylon Village with free, real-time updates from Patch.

No further information was immediately available.

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