Next Steps for Horton Avenue: Appraise and Sell Homes

Local state, county and town officials met with Horton Avenue flood victims on Friday afternoon to explain the recently-approved FEMA plan to purchase back their homes at fair-market value.

Rep. Tim Bishop, D-Southampton, Legis. Ed Romaine, R-Center Moriches, State Assemb. Dan Losquadro, R-Shoreham, Riverhead Police Chief David Hegermiller - who oversaw the FEMA grant application - and residents affected by the April 2010's nor'easter that flooded Horton Avenue all met at Romaine's office to discuss and announce the deal. 

, demolish them and construct wetlands in that area to improve storm drainage. The federal government will pay for a $2.24 million share of the $3 million spent on buying and demolishing homes, with Suffolk county and the town splitting the remaining costs. The remaining $600,000 in grant money will be spent creating a man-made wetland to prevent future flooding in the area.

Officials from the town, state, and county will meet within in the next few weeks to coordinate the next step in the process: appraising a pre-flood value for each of the 12 affected families' homes and purchasing each home back separately.

Between seven and nine renters on Horton Avenue were affected by the storm, and have already found new places to live, and many benefited from the Horton Avenue Relief Fund, said Linda Hobson, a Horton Avenue resident who has become an outspoken leader of the movement to help flood victims. Many have lost their belongings, and are still recovering, she added. 

For Hobson, Thursday's announcement was the culmination of an at times frustrating 19-month process.

"It is light at the end of a long tunnel," she said. "And certainly we have had a rough haul of it ... We're well overdue to see this light." Hobson praised officials for doing all they could to speed the process along and for championing their cause. She said that attorneys for Horton Avenue residents, who , will reach out to town attorneys soon to discuss the future of the as-of-now pending suit.

Despite the hardships she faced, Hobson said in an interview that she and her fellow Horton Avenue residents have grown, and the community has grown as well.

"I wouldn't wish this on anyone, but I wouldn't give back the journey," she said. "To see that government can really work was a gift. I think it shows that a community when they stick together can do really great things."

In a related project, Romaine said Suffolk County has identified a 10-acre plot of land that will be developed into approximately 15 affordable housing units, according to Losquadro, with the Horton Avenue residents at the top of the list to get in.

"We'll have a group of homes that are up-to-date, modern building standards, energy efficient, safe, obviously will not flood," he said. "The homeowners from the Horton Avenue area would have the right of first refusal."

The remaining homes will be assigned as affordable housing using a lottery, Romaine added. The money for the construction will come out of the county's affordable housing project fund. Officials would not say how much the buildings would cost, as they have yet to purchase the land.

Losquadro said turning the Horton Avenue homes into a wetland will help prevent history from repeating itself.

"We are the victim of 300 years or more of haphazard planning," he said. "Back in the earliest parts of this town someone went 'Hey, that's a good place to put a house.' That was the extent of their planning."

"We now know better than that," Losquadro continued. "We need to learn from those mistakes.