File Photo
Superstorm Sandy tore through Breezy Point and surrounding Rockaway communities in October 2012.
By Michael V. Cusenza
The State Senate and Assembly have approved bills that would allow residents of Breezy Point to continue rebuilding their Superstorm Sandy-ravaged homes without additional delays raised by the City application and review process, the bills’ sponsors, State Sen. Joe Addabbo, Jr. (D-Howard Beach) and Assemblywoman Stacey Pheffer Amato (D-Howard Beach), announced Thursday.
The legislation would once again extend existing law, reinstating building permits for homes destroyed during Sandy and waives City Building Standards and Appeals requirements regarding construction issues that are specific and unique to the Breezy Point community.
According to past similar legislation, the “application and review process can typically take 6-12 months or more without a waiver. It is necessary to extend the waiver so Breezy Point residents can continue to the process of rebuilding their homes and putting their lives back together.”
File Photo
Senator Addabbo said these bills spare Breezy Point Sandy victims the “frustration and expense in dealing with bureaucratic red tape.”
“Our community was uprooted by Hurricane Sandy, and we are still feeling those effects and working to rebuild nine years later,” Pheffer Amato said. “I am thankful to Senator Addabbo and the residents of Breezy Point for their advocacy to help make government work for their community. We will not stop until all our residents can fully come home again.”
Addabbo added, “With the passage of this legislation, we are helping the people of Breezy Point continue to move forward and succeed in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, while sparing them additional frustration and expense in dealing with bureaucratic red tape.”
