Part 2: Huntington’s Very Own Levitt Houses: Strathmore at Huntington

When we left off last week, the residents of Levitt and Sons’ Strathmore at Huntington luxury community were facing fires and floods. 

By May 1, 1969, it seemed things were starting to settle down.

That day’s Long-Islander reported that “Residents of the Levitt colony, Strathmore at Dix Hills, Levitt and Sons, LILCO and General Electric appeared to have made their peace after three meetings with the Huntington Town Board and over- the-weekend inspection of every home in the subdivision and dissembling every valve to see that it has no characteristics of the one which caused a blaze in the gas burner….” 

At the conclusion of these meetings it was agreed that all three companies were taking steps to assure that the problem was taken care of, and no more fires would occur.  The valves at all the occupied homes were to be inspected, and at the Civic Association’s urging, it was agreed that the unoccupied homes would be inspected as well.  The Town Building and Housing Inspector stated that he would do his own inspection before taking pending permits and COs off of suspension. 

The following week the Long-Islander reported that a closed session between Levitt and Sons’ vice president, Strathmore Civic Association’s vice president, and the town board had taken place in which 70 items were discussed one by one.  These items included the high heating bills and lack of heat that residents had previously complained about.  In addition, the residents complained about issues including, “the problem of air infiltration, wet basements, and streets full of dead trees and debris….” 

Apparently several houses in the Strathmore community experienced flooding in their basements, due to a lack of waterproofing.  The flooding due to the overflowing sump was also mentioned.  The town board gave Levitt and Sons the month of May to correct the problems.

They must have worked very hard that month. According to the June 19, 1969 Long-Islander, “With the suggestion to the homeowners in the Strathmore at Huntington development in Dix Hills that future problems be taken up with Levitt and Sons or the attorneys who handled their closings, the Huntington Town Board withdrew from its role of mediator in disputes over problems in the Levitt and Sons development in Dix Hills.”  At this same meeting, residents of Strathmore and the president of their civic association all made testimonials to the hard work that Levitt had put into addressing all the concerns and problems. 

The next time Strathmore at Huntington was in the news, it was not to complain but to celebrate.  The homeowners in the community took over the ownership and operation of the community’s recreation facilities shortly before the summer of 1969. 

“The recreation area, open only to residents of the Strathmore community, is situated on a 4.5-acre site, which included a 75-foot by 35-foot swimming pool and tennis courts,” as reported in the July 3, 1969 Long-Islander.  They opened that weekend for the second summer and the recreation program included swimming and tennis lessons, programs for kids, and an art program. 

Levitt and Sons found itself in the news again when they gave a substantial Christmas present to the school district.  According to the December 25, 1969 Long-Islander, “ The deed to a 12.3-acre site, worth approximately $18,000, [was] turned over by Levitt and Sons, Inc. to the Half Hollow Hills School District….”   The article goes on to explain that while there were no current plans for a school site, they would “bank” the area for future use. 

The site was located in the Strathmore community, on Wilmington Drive, one mile west of Bagatelle Road.  Looking at the current addresses of Half Hollow schools and a Google Maps aerial photo, I do not believe that a school was ever built here, but I am not certain. 

But things did not stay positive for long, and by October of 1971 complaints were appearing in the Long-Islander regarding the sewer problems that Strathmore at Huntington residents were facing at the hands of Huntington Sanitary Corporation, a Levitt and Sons-owned sewer network. Residents were paying $300 a year for sanitary sewer use. 

“People felt Levitt was not charging the proper rates, [and also] complained about odors from the plant.  For all of these reasons… people in the area decided to petition the county to take over the operation of the sewer set up,” according to a August 3, 1972 Long-Islander. 

Three weeks later on August 24, 1972 the Long-Islander reported that the Huntington Sanitary Corporation was set to petition the Town of Huntington and the Suffolk County Sewer Agency for an increase in sewer rates of 71.7 percent.    The Levitt Corporation, via the Huntington Sanitary Corporation, claimed that the rates were set too low to begin with and wanted to raise them to $474 per home per year to offset operation costs.  Simultaneously, the Suffolk County Legislature was trying to decide whether or not to put the acquisition of the sewer system on the referendum. 

It was decided to put it on the referendum that November.  The November 9, 1972 long-Islander announced that “Voters in Dix Hills voted for the establishment of a Strathmore-Huntington sewer district and the acquisition of a sanitary sewer system estimated to cost a maximum of $1,300,000.”  Seven hundred residents voted on the proposition. 

The takeover would result in the lowering of fees for the residents of Strathmore, to about $140 a year. It seemed like all the problems that the Strathmore residents had faced were behind them now.

But then on December 28, 1972 the Long-Islander reported that a fire in Strathmore caused by the valves on the gas furnace resulting in the replacement of 280 control valves in the Strathmore homes.  The situation was extremely similar to the 1969 fire that resulted in the town’s involvement.  Valves were also found to be faulty in that situation, and they were replaced, and this seemingly stopped the issue—until this fire occurred on Ryder Avenue.  The December 28 article goes on to say that “LILCO is replacing the gas furnace valves with new ones and the cost is to be borne by General Electric.”  LILCO promised to put a lot of workers on the task to get it done fast.

Finally, it seemed peace settled on the Strathmore at Huntington community.  On April 15, 1973 The New York Times published a letter written by the president of the Strathmore at Huntington Civic Association, Norman Wesler.  The letter was written in response to an article published about complaints of a New Jersey development built by Levitt and Sons, Inc. 

He says that the article “reminded him of many of the problems we experienced in what is now a beautiful community.”  And he goes to praise Levitt for “coming back--in some cases more than five years after completing the development--to correct defects… [and] eventually Levitt and Sons solved our problems.” 

Finally he noted that “Our five-year-old civic association was formed to ‘fight the builder,’ but with any reason to fight Levitt long past, we now direct our efforts toward school-board activities, youth-development programs and the acquisition of park lands.” 

Strathmore’s residents finally had their happy ending.