In photo, Mayor Ralph Scordino, right, signs agreement as attorneys for both sides and Village Trustees look on. After more than four years of legal wrangling, the Village of Babylon and homeowners of the Babylon Cove at Bridgeview Townhouse complex have settled their dispute. The decision ends a bitter legal battle that surfaced after the developer, Michael Poscillico, failed to include information to purchasers in his prospective that the Village required that the homes be owner occupied. Many residents claimed that they were unaware of the Village's restriction, and purchased the properties without knowing that they could not rent them out, if necessary; they wanted the restrictions lifted.

In the agreement, the developer consented to filing the covenants and restrictions. In addition, the builder agreed to pay legal fees to the Village, and residents agreed that the units could not be rented. In addition, Poscillico agreed to resign from the Homeowner's Association within 6 months of signing the agreement.

The agreement was announced at a recent Village Board meeting and in attendance were many residents of the complex. All said they were happy to see the issue behind them.

"We will now get legal certificates of occupancy (C&Rs), and we thank you very much for working this out," John Melillo, a resident of Bridgeview told the Village Board. "We have been living under a cloud for four years, and this is a real evil that has been set right."

Mayor Ralph Scordino said he was also pleased to see the issue resolved and to be able to help these residents who in many ways were not responsible for the circumstances in which they found themselves.

The agreement keeps all of the regulations and safeguards the Village put into place when the complex came before it for approvals; safeguards officials said helped ensure the health, safety and quality of life for residents of the complex and the Village.

The issue arose when the Homeowners Association and the developer failed to file proper paperwork with the State, which included the C&Rs. As a result, the Village did not release certificates of occupancy on the units, pointing out that the developer had agreed to those C&Rs when he filed his plans.

In a suit filed against the Village in January 2007, the residents charged that the Village "wrongfully discriminated" against them by attempting to create and impose an artificial, arbitrary, improper and illegal distinction between the single-family townhouses at Babylon Cove and all other single-family homes in the Village. Specifically, the residents at Bridgeview wanted to be able to rent their homes at their discretion, something the Village rejected during the approval process.

The residents, who were represented at that time by Joseph P. Asselta, asked that the restrictions be lifted, pointing out that the Village made no other such requirements to any other single-family homeowners in the Village.

The Village noted that the developer, Michael Poscillico, had applied to and received approval from three autonomous Village Boards to build the homes and had agreed before each, and in writing to each, that the units must at all times be owner occupied. To arbitrarily lift those restrictions would be "both illegal and unethical," said the Village's attorney, P. Kevin Brosnahan, at the time the suit was filed against the Village.

At the time, the Village suggested that the Homeowners Association meet, adopt the covenants, and restrictions, file them with the State, and then apply to the Village for some relief.

"We don't want to hurt any resident, but there is a procedure that must be followed in doing what they want us to do," said Scordino at the time the suit was filed. That never occurred, however, largely due to the fact that Poscillico had control of the Association's majority. Residents are expected to assume control of the Association next month.

Meanwhile, residents have filed a lawsuit against Poscillico in State Suprement Court, Suffolk County, charging that he misled them when they purchased the homes by not telling them the units had to be owner occupied. According to their attorney Joseph Walsh, the case is pending.