Town Board Passes Another Anti-Boarding House Code Change

The Brookhaven town board on Tuesday took another action meant to curb the illegal rooming house problem, unanimously passing an amendment that clarified definition of the word "kitchen" in the town's housing code.

"Kitchen" used to be defined in the town code as a room having a range or oven, a refrigerator and a sink. Now, though, the definition of "kitchen" has been clarified as: 

"A space used for, or intended to be used for, the cooking or preparation of food and containing any of the following: a refrigerator of any size, a sink, or cooking device including but not limited to a range, oven, microwave, toaster oven, hot plate, grill or hot pot."

In an interview Thursday, councilman Steve Fiore-Rosenfeld said: "Too many cooktops and microwaves all over the house could be considered a separate kitchen. ... This would help the Law Department get at the issue of when we get into a house, to see whether or not it’s being used as a single family residence or if it’s been turned into an illegal boarding house."

Fiore-Rosenfeld, who sponsored this amendment, in 2012 had introduced a measure in that changed the number of unrelated people that could legally live together in a house from eight to four. That definition along with a handful of other code changes – including raising fines for violations – have recently helped the Town of Brookhaven in its fight against illegal rooming houses.

Bruce Sander, one of the organizers of the Stony Brook Concerned Homeowners, called the town board's latest amendment "moving in the right direction."

"They have been most supportive and we respect their decisions," Sander said in an email to Patch.

He said the group will continue to lobby for more changes, as Patch has previously reported. 

"Once these proposals become law ... we are confident the town in the long run will preserve the quality of life of its taxpayers," Sander said.