Home builder in Oceanside, NY

Oceanside took its current name in 1918 and spread south over swamp and marsh through the 1900s. It was part of the post-World War II housing boom: about 18,000 people lived there in 1950, and from 1951 to 1957, 3,400 houses were built on vacant lots and hundreds of acres of marshland.

Census figures put Oceanside’s median year built at 1956, with a little under two in three homes built before 1960. Owners of these houses often weigh a renovation against a knockdown and a new house built to today’s flood rules.

The Town of Hempstead says a substantially damaged building, one whose repairs reach 50% or more of its pre-disaster value, must fully comply with New York State and FEMA construction guidelines to get a certificate of occupancy, which may include raising the dwelling. It defines substantial improvement separately, as work worth 50% or more of the building’s market value. In 2018 the Herald reported Oceanside homeowners being told, more than five years after Sandy, that substantially damaged homes had to be elevated.

Where raising a house runs into height limits, Section 352 of the Building Zone Ordinance allows a waiver only if it is necessary to meet FEMA and flood insurance rules, and then for no more than two habitable floor levels above the design flood elevation. The County’s hazard plan also proposes raising roadways in Oceanside.