The amnesty program for closed or expired permits was expanded in the Village of Great Neck on Tuesday. Five new residential properties will be added to the list of homeowners who have been helped by the program since it was proposed last year.
The amnesty program was created by Superintendent of the Buildings Department Michael Sweeney to relieve homeowners who were late on permit payments or had forgotten to close a permit altogether.
“Sometimes residents forget to close [permits]. Or they relied on the contractor to close the permit, but they had already moved on to their next job,” said Sweeney. “Either way, the administrative part hadn’t been done.”
Sweeney rolled out the program last year, which applies to all home permits. The amnesty program allows homeowners to close outstanding permits for completed projects at a 50% discount.
“A lot of times, we find them when a homeowner wants to open a new permit,” Sweeney said. “They don’t realize they have one outstanding. They must pay the fee to close the old one before opening a new permit.”
Sweeney said offering the program discount encourages paying back the outstanding permit costs. The village does amnesty projects in bulk and has closed over 30 permits since the project’s inception.
