6/16/2017 - Board Takes Next Step Toward New Animal Shelter
The Huntington Town board, at its June 13 meeting, took the next step toward replacing the aging Town Animal Shelter.
The Board authorized hiring L. K. McLean Associates of Brookhaven to provide the architectural and engineering services to design the new shelter, which will be located on Creek Road in Huntington Village, adjacent to both Mill Dam Park and the Town’s Wastewater Treatment Plant. The cost of the contract is not to exceed $567,540.
The McLean firm was one of 13 that responded to a request for proposals issued last year, and one of three asked to make in-person presentations before a selection team last December. The McLean entry scored the highest of the three.
In particular, the selection team was impressed by McLean’s sub-consultants, Jackson & Ryan of Houston, TX, and Designed Learned of Norwich, CT. Both firms have extensive experience in the design and construction of animal shelters and are recognized for the quality of their work in this field. The three companies have also worked together successfully on previous municipal projects.
The new shelter will replace the existing facility on Deposit Road in East Northport with one that will be state of the art and more centrally located.
In other action, the Town Board:
-- approved the rezoning of a parcel on West Hills Road, south of Jericho Turnpike in South Huntington, from R-7 residence district R-HS residential health services district to allow construction of a proposed 90-unit, 136-bed assisted living facility
-- authorized an agreement with the Harborfields school district to install solar-powered permanent driver feedback signs on Taylor Avenue in Greenlawn, near the entrance to Harborfields High School, to improve traffic and pedestrian safety. The school district will reimburse the Town for the $16,000 cost of the signs.
-- amended the contract with the law firm Leventhal Mullaney & Blinkoff, the counsel to the Town’s Ethics Board, to represent the Town is a court action filed against the Ethics Board. The additional cost will not exceed $15,000.
-- authorized the sale to the Long Island Rail Road of materials used to repair the stairs leading from the eastern overpass at the Huntington station. The Town had obtained the materials before the LIRR assumed responsibility for the repair.
-- appropriated $75,000 to complete the development of Sweet Hollow Park.
-- scheduled July 11 public hearings on two proposed Town Code amendments designed to make it easier for groups to hold events at Town facilities by streamlining the application process and reducing the amount of insurance required to obtain a permit.
-- scheduled a July 11 public hearing on a proposed Town Code amendment to allow residents to walk their leashed dogs in all Town parks except Heckscher Park, the Betty Allen Nature Preserve, playgrounds, picnic areas, active recreation areas, town camps and town beaches (except for paved areas and boardwalks at town beached). This proposal would provide more places where residents can bring their dogs and make the Town’s policy consistent with Suffolk County’s.
-- scheduled a July 11 public hearing to increase from two to four the number of rooms permitted in a bed-and-breakfast, from seven to 29 the number of consecutive days a guest may stay and from 30 to 120 the total number of days an individual guest may stay in a one-year period.