5/11/2017 - Board Approves Measures on Affordable Housing, Parking for Apartments in Commercial Districts
The Huntington Town Board, at its May 9 meeting, approved two proposals responding to the increased demand for apartments in the middle of Huntington Village.
One of proposals, sponsored by Councilwoman Tracey A. Edwards, requires that one-fifth of the apartments constructed in commercial district mixed-use buildings be designated as affordable. The second, sponsored by Councilwoman Susan A. Berland, would require on-site parking for the residential units or a provision for off-site parking independent of municipal parking lots. The councilwomen co-sponsored each other’s resolutions.
While both proposals would be in effect town-wide, they address specific comments that apartments constructed recently in Huntington Village are renting at rates beyond what young people entering the workforce can afford and that the units have strained municipal parking lots and made it more difficult for customers of village businesses to find parking.
The affordable housing resolution also implements several requirements for affordable housing in residential districts, including the number of units that must be set aside as affordable in return for increased density and the quality of the affordable units in relation to the market rate ones. The resolution also would require those benefitting from affordable housing to file a statement certifying that the unit is still their main residency.
In other action, the Town Board:
-- accepted a donation of 1.5 acres of land and agreed to purchase the remaining 5.5 acres of a parcel on Creek Road in Huntington that adjoins Mill Dam Park and the Town’s Wastewater Treatment Plant. The donated land will be used for a new Town Animal Shelter; 4.5 acres of the purchased land will be used for parkland and the remaining acre will be used by the Huntington Sewer District for district purposes. The cost for the purchase land totals $2.2 million.
-- approved the sale of 2.875 sanitary flow credits from the Town’s Density Rights Bank in order to allow construction of four affordable one-bedroom apartments for military veterans on the corner of Depot Road and East 9th Street, Huntington Station.
-- authorized a professional services agreement with the American Green Zone Alliance to complete a study preparatory to the creation and promotion of a Green Zone at Heckscher Park and Town Hall. Battery operated landscaping equipment will replace gas-powered equipment in the Green Zone as part of a demonstration project. The battery operated equipment is quieter and has zero emissions.
-- authorized an agreement with Dietz Golf Corp., the operator of the Town’s Crab Meadow Golf Course, to provide golf motorized golf carts equipped with technology that permits the creation of geo fences and action zones that prevent golfers from entering sensitive areas such as hazards, steep inclines and roadways to reduce the risk of injury to the golfing public. The technology also is designed to prevent golf carts from leaving paved cart paths and other designed areas when specified adverse weather conditions are present.
-- authorized an expansion of the public art on traffic signal box program to include five locations in Huntington Station, with the $8,500 total cost to be covered by the Huntington Station Business Improvement District. All of the previous locations were in Huntington Village.
-- authorized applying for $50,000 grand funding form the New York State & Municipal Facilities Grant Program on behalf of the Greenlawn Civic Association, which wants to add decorative street lights on Broadway between Pulaski Road and Ann Street. The board also went on record as supporting applications for grants under the Suffolk County Downtown Revitalization Program for that project, as well as one to install an illuminated warning system at the crosswalk on Main Street in Cold Spring Harbor.
-- amended the agreements with the Huntington Community First Aid Squad and the Commack Ambulance Corps to reflect increased projected revenue for both organizations from billing insurance companies for services provided. In the case of the HCFAS, the net projected increase is $225,000. For Commack, the amount is $62,631.
-- went on record as supporting Brookhaven’s effort to seek funding and financial assistance from New York State to develop an additional ash monofill on its landfill site to allow the continued disposal of ash. Under an inter-municipal agreement, the Covanta Resource Recovery Facility in East Northport that burns garbage from Huntington sends its ash to Brookhaven for disposal.
-- approved an amendment to Town Code, updating the existing public nuisance law with several changes, including a modification of the definition of “repeat public nuisance.” The proposed code amendment also makes it a violation for a person to urinate or defecate in a public place.
-- approved an amendment to Town code to specifically prohibiting occupying or using buildings that the Town has placarded, and making it illegal for a person or business to tamper with or remove a placard or to impede a Town employee in the placement of a placard.
-- designated as an historic landmark the Velsor-Van Alst House on Fort Salonga Road in Centerport, as recommended by the Historic Preservation Commission. The house was built in the mid-1800s in the Greek Revival style and the limited changes made since then match the original architecture.
-- authorized applying for a $5,000 grant from the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America to provide scholarship opportunities at the Town’s Adult Day Care Center to provide respite for family caregivers of relatives with Alzheimer’s or other related dementia.
-- scheduled a June 13 public hearing to consider acquiring the Peter Crippen House on Creek Road in Huntington for use as an additional parking area for the Huntington Wastewater Treatment Plant. Earlier this year, the Town removed the structure’s historic designation because of its deteriorated condition.
-- scheduled June 13 public hearings on two related proposals to regulate short-term rentals such as are offered through services such as Air BnB, Home Away and VRBO.
-- scheduled a June 13 public hearing to consider an application for a zone change to allow construction of The Manors at Commack, a proposed 86-unit independent senior living development on what is now the baseball field at the Suffolk Y JCC.
-- scheduled a June 13 public hearing to consider an application for a rezoning to allow construction of a mixed-use building, to include first-floor commercial space and a total of 20 apartments on the second and third floors on a parcel on New York Avenue, just south of High Street, in Huntington Village.
-- scheduled a June 13 public hearing to consider an application for a zone change to allow construction of the 24-unit Creekside Apartments II complex on Creek Road in Huntington.
-- scheduled a June 13 public hearing on a proposal to create an extra-fee expedited review process for building permit applications.