The following Letter to the Editor was published in Newsday on May 20th, 2026. You can read the original version here.
The Town of Hempstead’s restrictions on the building of outsized homes in Levittown mark a significant step forward in preserving suburban developmental scale [“Tighter house size limits OKd,” News, May 13].
In recent years, the issue of local governments liberally allowing oversized residences has greatly contributed to rising housing costs. In turn, these bigger homes make generational turnover in communities all that much more challenging as prices rise, while simultaneously changing the aesthetic character of Long Island’s neighborhoods.
It is important to remember that it is not a local government’s responsibility to enshrine municipal zoning as a tool whose purpose is to drive up property values for investors looking to cash in.
Rather, the power over land use is a fundamental responsibility of government that localities must responsibly leverage to target key growth initiatives in appropriate areas while maintaining both the environmental and social integrity of the residents of the community.
All of this should be done within the context of a broader comprehensive plan that was shaped with community input, not on a lot-by-lot basis by random private homeowners.
While the rights of homeowners to improve their property are a key part of a functioning free market, such actions must be done without unduly contributing to the region’s already superheated housing market.
— Richard Murdocco, Commack
The writer is an adjunct professor of planning at Stony Brook University.
