A unit owner at the Breton Hills condominium complex in Glen Cove says he is now just 12 feet from a steep drop-off after a mudslide tore through the hillside behind his building, and he says he's terrified it will happen again. Patricio Aguirre described the situation as catastrophic, saying residents in the 55-and-older community are afraid for their safety after heavy rain sent earth sliding down the slope behind his home.
Aguirre said the buffer behind his condo has been shrinking for years, and he blames a combination of improper grading, inadequate drainage, and regular flooding for wearing away the land between his building and the edge. According to CBS News New York, the drop-off has progressively moved closer to the condominium over time, and Aguirre said residents warned the builders and sponsors about the problem after he first moved in. Now, he says, he is afraid for his life and is demanding immediate action from the condo's builder and property manager.
A Storm-Soaked Slope Gives Way
The mudslide came during a stretch of extreme weather across Nassau County. The National Weather Service issued a Flash Flood Warning across central and western Nassau County on August 27, 2026, as Doppler radar tracked severe thunderstorms dumping rain at rates of 1 to 2 inches per hour. That same storm system triggered flooding across Glen Cove roadways, including Woolsey Avenue and Dosoris Lane, as reported by Herald Community Newspapers.
The ground behind Breton Hills was already saturated from an earlier storm. Just a week before the mudslide, an August 20 system battered Nassau County with torrential downpours and spawned an EF-1 tornado that damaged coastal structures in Atlantic Beach, according to The Guardian. Long Island's North Shore is especially vulnerable to this kind of slope failure — the terrain there is largely made up of steep glacial bluffs and hills composed of loose sand, silt, and gravel, which slump easily once saturated by heavy rain, per New York Sea Grant.
Builder Says Building Is Safe, HOA President Wants Answers
Joe Iorio, speaking with all shore management, said the building itself is not in danger of going off the cliff. The condo's property manager and builder have placed sandbags and burlap along the slope in the meantime, per the CBS report.
Joann Smith, president of the Breton Hills Homeowners Association, said a retaining wall and other measures need to be examined immediately. She wants the city and the builder to determine the cause of the crisis and remedy it. Aguirre, for his part, fears that another mudslide could reach the road below and cause a death.
Who Pays for a Fix, and Who's Liable
Glen Cove officials said the condominium complex is private property, and city officials are working with property management on an assessment. Under New York property law and municipal codes, the responsibility for repairing and stabilizing failing slopes or retaining walls on private residential developments falls to the property owner or homeowners association rather than local government, according to the New York Courts. That leaves the HOA facing a potentially steep bill: major hillside stabilization and retaining wall construction on Long Island frequently runs upwards of $100,000, driven by engineering requirements, soil disposal fees, and municipal permitting, according to one Long Island homeowner's account shared on Reddit.
Complicating matters further, residential developments along North Shore hills and bluffs generally do not qualify for federal flood insurance covering earth movement or slope erosion damage, unlike low-lying coastal flood zones, reports Newsday. That gap leaves the 72-unit gated community, marketed as maintenance-free luxury housing for adults 55 and older, potentially on its own to cover the cost of fixing the eroding slope.
A Site With a Troubled Past
The land at 38 Hill Street has a complicated history. It was originally slated as a residential project called Landing Cove in 2017, but the initial developer abandoned the half-built site, leaving it blighted for years, according to Herald Community Newspapers. Long Beach-based developer Arcadia Asset Services acquired the site in 2019 and completed the 72-unit gated 55-plus community, celebrating its grand opening in 2021 under managing partner Joe Iorio.
That history has left open questions about whether the original grading and drainage infrastructure was ever built to hold up over the long term. For now, CBS News New York reports that all parties — Aguirre, Smith, and officials — agree there is no time to waste in finding a fix before the next storm hits the hillside behind Breton Hills.
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