They want him gone for good.
A Sheepshead Bay panel is so angry with an Avenue Z auto shop it calls a law-breaking, filthy nuisance, it voted unanimously on Sept. 28 against the land owner’s attempt to get a new business permit.
“This is the biggest junkyard I’ve ever seen,” proclaimed Allan Popper to rousing applause at the Community Board 15 hearing at Kingsborough Community College. “We should kick the landlord off that property.”
LS Auto Clinic has been operating without a city permit for the past seven years, according to city records. Its car wash is also illegal, having been cited by the city because it was built without a permit.
But this year, site owner Arkady Nabatov applied to renew the property’s expired variance, which would allow him to keep the business running — and allow a gas station to open on the triangular-shaped site. The city Board of Standards and Appeals will take CB15’s advisory vote into account when it reviews the application.
A spokesman at the meeting representing Assemblyman Steven Cymbrowitz said the lawmaker is also opposed to reinstating the shop’s permit.
”This business has racked up city violations and has been operating outside the law since 2003,” he said. “How can we trust this business with another variance?”
Nabatov’s lawyer, Eric Palatnik, did not refute residents’ claims that the shop consistently has junk cars parked on the sidewalk around it and garbage strewn about.
“I told the operator that he has to maintain the property better,” Palatnik said. “I realize there are problems.”
Nabatov could not be reached for comment this week, but in the past, LS Auto Clinic’s operator insisted that he cleans his garbage and is not responsible for trash that pedestrians leave near his property.
”Whatever garbage belongs to me, I take care of that,” said Serge, who claimed he was the owner of LS Auto Clinic. “The rest does not belong to my business.”
