STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — A Staten Island resident has spent years contacting city agencies trying to get his deteriorating street repaired, but legal limitations have prevented the city from fixing it.
Oleg Amelko, who lives on Liberty Avenue, between Patterson Avenue and Quincy Avenue, said the street has been falling apart for three years, with deep potholes and sections partially caved in. This winter’s snowstorms have only worsened the condition.
“The city collects property tax, but refuses to take ownership,” said Amelko.
Despite contacting the Department of Transportation and local elected officials, Amelko has been unable to get the city to take action.
Officials say that while that portion of Liberty Avenue has been formally mapped, it was never vested, meaning it remains private property and can’t be repaired or maintained by the city until it formally acquires ownership.
City records indicate that all homes along the small, dead-end portion of Liberty Avenue were sold to their current owners by a limited liability company named Lynx at Seaview LLC, which also appears to have owned the land when the homes were constructed.
Lynx at Seaview LLC did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication regarding whether they currently own the street and intend to repair the roadway.
In the meantime, the city is considering another option to potentially fix Liberty Avenue through a process known as a Corporation Counsel Opinion (CCO), which would allow the city to perform maintenance even without owning the street. However, getting a CCO requires meeting strict requirements and obtaining approval from multiple agencies.
According to the DOT, the agency is currently unable to perform repairs on the roadway due to legal limitations.
“The city does not have the title or a CCO to Liberty Avenue between Patterson Avenue and Quincy Avenue,” a DOT spokesperson said. “NYC DOT is not authorized to perform work on streets that are not owned by the city or streets that are not covered by an easement granting the city the right to perform maintenance work on these streets.”
A representative from Councilmember David Carr’s office said the issue has been ongoing for several years and involves multiple layers of review. The office requested a CCO three years ago and again recently.
Despite years of complaints and worsening conditions from recent snowstorms, multiple city agencies say they lack the authority to repair a privately-owned portion of Liberty Avenue. (Courtesy of Oleg Amelko)(Courtesy of Oleg Amelko)
“This goes back to 2023. We’re asking Corporation Counsel to take another look at it,” the representative said.
However, they noted that the street may not yet meet eligibility requirements for a CCO, as streets must be open and in use for at least 10 years to qualify. That particular portion of Liberty Avenue may have only been formally completed around 2018, leaving it two years short of the requirement.
Additional infrastructure issues may also be preventing repairs, as the street lacks key elements such as proper drainage systems, curbs and sidewalks, which the DOT’s Roadway Repair & Maintenance team told local officials must be installed before the department would even consider resurfacing the roadway.
The DOT placed that onus on the Department of Environmental Protection, which is responsible for installing water and sewer infrastructure.
“We will only consider resurfacing if DEP requests CCO and installs infrastructure,” the DOT’s Roadway Repair & Maintenance team said.
A DEP representative pushed back, stating that the DOT can request its own CCO to rebuild the street and then DEP would decide if new sewers and water mains would be needed for the project.
Even if one of the agencies wanted to move forward with a project, funding limitations could delay any potential work for years. The DEP representative noted that the department’s current capital plan is fully allocated, meaning any new project could face significant delays and likely wouldn’t begin until the mid-2030s.
For now, Amelko feels stuck in a loop, waiting for action that could be years away.
“It just doesn’t make sense,” said Amelko. “It’s been years, and we’re still waiting.”