The Village of Lynbrook Board of Trustees has approved a new zoning amendment aimed at preventing illegal basement and multi-family conversions in residential neighborhoods.
The changes to Chapter 252 of the village code prohibit exterior basement and cellar entrances that lead directly from outside into a basement, as well as exterior stairways connecting the ground level to any floor other than the main floor. The amendment applies to dwelling districts A, B and C.
Village officials said the regulation is intended to limit illegal over-occupancy and protect the safety and character of single-family neighborhoods.
Mayor Alan Beach explained that the issue of multi-family conversions has roots going back decades. After World War II, he said, the village allowed homeowners to modify single-family homes into what were known as “nonconforming two-family” dwellings to help returning veterans find housing.
“They put a side door and they let you go upstairs. You're not allowed on the first floor,” Beach said. “Those are nonconforming. They don't have the proper safety features.”
He noted that in recent years, some property owners have been buying such homes as investments or for short-term rentals, creating unsafe living conditions. “You got people renting,” he said. “Then they do the third floor. They do the second house up.”
Beach said the new law is part of a broader effort to preserve Lynbrook’s single-family housing stock.
“We want single family homes,” he said.
During the public hearing, Jeff Greenfield, a Lynbrook resident, spoke in support of the measure.
“I’m in favor of this local law to preserve and protect the residential character of this community and not to have it a haven of illegal two-family homes which put the fire department in peril, God forbid there was an emergency,” Greenfield said. “It’s common in the Town of Hempstead… they are very strict, no second means of ingress or egress by a stairway to the basement and the same thing to a second floor from the exterior.”
Greenfield, who also serves on the Nassau County Planning Commission, said the measure provides “good guidance” for Lynbrook’s Zoning Board of Appeals and pointed out that modern safety codes already require “fire windows” that allow for emergency escape without exterior stairwells.
“I think it’s a good step by this village to protect the residential character of the community,” he said.
The board voted unanimously to adopt the changes following the hearing.
