Northport Authorizes Smaller House for Trustee Who Built Without Permit Required

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A Northport Village trustee has been given permission to proceed with construction of a house on land where he began construction two years ago without the necessary permits.

Tom Kehoe has been arguing with village officials over his home on Mariners Lane since 2019, after a stop work order was issued for work done without the proper permits, including building a foundation too near lot lines and a staircase without permission. .

“It’s been 28 months and I’m happy to have him behind me at this point,” Kehoe said last week. “We have to design a smaller house, which is good; I went through the whole verification process, got the ZBA approval in writing and now we’re done.”

The village’s zoning appeal board voted 5-0 at its September 29 meeting to allow Kehoe to build only a 1,750 square foot house, down from the original 3,000 foot proposal squares.

The project had been a source of controversy in the community. Kehoe filed two lawsuits against the village, one appealing the ZBA’s decision regarding waivers he received from the board in 2018, which were later overturned. The second claimed that the ZBA had not informed him that the waivers were going to be canceled.

Kehoe apologized to the community for his actions regarding the house before stepping down in 2019 as deputy mayor following pressure from residents and other administrators, but he remained in his seat in administrator.

The County of Suffolk also issued a notice of violation against Kehoe for installing a septic tank without a county permit.

The house was destroyed by fire in 2017 and demolished in December 2018. Excavation and foundation work was carried out in January and February 2019.

Kehoe said he plans to build on the property although he has previously said he will sell it. He said issues with the authorization process made a sale difficult.

“I don’t rush to put shovels in the ground,” Kehoe said. “The house that was finally approved is a different house than the one I started building; now I have to go around the contractors again, and the building materials are much more expensive now.”

Mayor Damon McMullen said he was glad there was a resolution.

“The ZBA made the decision and now we’re moving on,” McMullen said. “I hope the lawyers will now be able to conclude the other litigation.”

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