On Friday, February 17th, the Town of Babylon learned of an ill-conceived proposal by the Suffolk County Department of Social Services to turn South Bay Motel in Copiague into a homeless shelter with no public notice or input from the community. The proposal would have had the Town of Babylon take on 50% of the counties single, homeless male population even though we only make up 15% of the counties total population.
Supervisor Schaffer and the Town Board immediately scheduled a Special Town Board meeting that was held on Friday, February 24th (watch here), to pass a resolution demanding the proposal be rescinded by the county. The proposal was ultimately rescinded prior to this Special Town Board meeting, thanks in-part to the public uproar created after Councilmen DuWayne Gregory and Terence McSweeney made the community aware of this proposal on social media. However, the meeting was still held to formally pass a resolution denouncing the proposal.
The Babylon Town Board has also urged the county to adopt the same public hearing process that our residents have to go through if they want to make modifications to their home, or that a business has to go through to change the intended use at its location. The board firmly believes that public hearings with proper notice must be part of the process when making decisions that impact the community.
We want to thank all of the residents who quickly disrupted their normal schedules to mobilize and make their voices heard. We also want to thank Presiding Officer Kevin McCaffrey, Minority Leader Jason Richberg, Legislator Tom Donnelley and the village boards in Amityville and Lindenhurst who stood with us and helped stop this from moving forward.”