Town of Huntington, NY - News Details

The Huntington Town Board held its April 12 meeting, where they scheduled public hearings for the May 10 meeting, including a measure further limiting the expansion of multi-story apartment buildings.

Piggybacking off his 2020 legislation limiting the unregulated expansion of multi-story apartment development in commercial downtown areas zoned C-6 across the Town, Supervisor Ed Smyth proposed a measure further limiting the expansion of apartment building development and their impact on parking congestion.

“We want to close this potentially devastating loophole in our Town Code and give applicants the clear guidance that our downtown areas are open for business, culture and economic investment, not the rampant overdevelopment of apartment buildings with no parking,” said Supervisor Ed Smyth. “Apartment developers can no longer rely on municipal parking lots to satisfy their off-street parking requirements.”

The Town Board scheduled a public hearing for the Tuesday, May 10, 2022 Town Board meeting at 2:00 PM to consider amending the Code of the Town of Huntington, Chapter 198 (Zoning), Article I (General Provisions), Article VII (Off-Street Parking), and Article XV (Nonconforming Uses); to clarify the rules regarding parking requirements relative to a proposed conversion of existing multi-story structures within 300 feet of municipal parking lots to residential use on the upper floor(s); to control the unregulated expansion of apartments in Huntington Village.

The Town Board scheduled additional public hearings for the Tuesday, May 10, 2022 Town Board meeting at 2:00 PM to consider:

• Amending the Uniform Traffic Code of the Town of Huntington, Chapter 2, Article IV, §2-7, Schedule G. RE: Todd Court – Huntington Station – Stop Signs; to add a Stop Sign on Todd Court for westbound traffic at the East Service Road of New York Avenue.
• Amending the Uniform Traffic Code of the Town of Huntington, Chapter 2, Article IV, §2-7, Schedule G. RE: Michael Lane – Huntington Station – Stop Signs; to add a Stop Sign on Michael Lane for westbound traffic at Lodge Avenue.
• Amending the Uniform Traffic Code of the Town of Huntington, Chapter 2, Article I, §2-1, Schedule A. RE: Centershore Road at Mill Dam Road – Centerport – Traffic Signal; to remove a flashing yellow/red signal at Centershore Road and Mill Dam Road, after a traffic study determined it would no longer be necessary due to the installation of an all-way stop earlier in 2022.
• Authorizing various actions be taken upon certain properties designated as blighted in accordance with Chapter 156, Article VII, § 156-60 (Blighted Property).
• Amending the Code of the Town of Huntington Chapter 198 (Zoning), Article VI (Historic Landmarks and Districts), § 198-40.2 (Historic Preservation Commission); to streamline operations, provide savings to taxpayers, and lengthen the notification period to ensure property owners are notified of Historic Preservation Commission proceedings that may affect their interests, such as historic landmark designations or the establishment of an historic district, by replacing the costly certified mail with return receipt requested process with regular mail and a certified Post Office certificate of mailing, a procedure currently in use in Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) proceedings, and extending the minimum mailing period to notify affected property owners from 15 days to 20 days.

In other action, the Town Board:

• Approved Environmental Open Space and Park Improvement (EOSPA) funding for recommended improvements at Alfred J. Walker Memorial Park, William Byrne Park crosswalk, and the Old Burying Ground:
  • up to $640,000 to cover over 50% of the cost of renovations at Alfred J. Walker Memorial Park, offsetting the funding approved for the project at the March 15, 2022 Town Board meeting;
  • up to $30,000 to install a crosswalk and solar traffic control devices for improved pedestrian safety on Clay Pitts Road at William Byrne Park; and
  • up to $80,000 to ornamental steel fencing at the Old Burying Ground, as recommended by the Historic Preservation Commission, to replace an old fence in disrepair.
• Extended the free Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) expedited review application process for outdoor dining on private property through December 31, 2022.
• Appointed David Genaway, AICP as Director of the Department of Information Technology, after serving as Deputy Director of Planning & Environment since 2018 and Geographic Information System (GIS) Manager since 2016; he will continue to serve as GIS Manager and oversee geospatial research and mapping projects in his overlapping role as IT Director. Immediately prior to joining the Town, Mr. Genaway served as a Senior Community Planner for New York State Housing Trust Fund Corporation. Previously he served as Chief Deputy Planning Commissioner for the Town of Brookhaven and Commissioner of Planning and Development for the Town of Islip. Mr. Genaway, an expert on Geographic Information Systems, has also lectured on the subject at Farmingdale State College, New York University (NYU), and Stony Brook University.
• Appointed lifelong Huntington resident Hon. Robert A. Lifson as a member of the Town of Huntington Planning Board (term expiring 12/31/2026); a former New York State Supreme Court Justice, Hon. RobertA. Lifson had served on the Town of Huntington Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) as an alternate member since his appointment at the February 1, 2022 Town Board meeting.
• Reappointed Paul Ponturo, P.E. and John Borrelli as members (terms expiring 10/17/2024) and Assistant Town Attorney Susan Coleman, Esq. as an ex-officio member (term expiring 10/17/2023) of the Plumbing Advisory Board of the Town of Huntington.

   

  The Town Board accepted the following donations and thanks the donors for their generosity:

   

• A donation of 50 tons of asphalt from the Forte family for the Veterans Walkway leading to the Vietnam Killed In Action (KIA) Memorial at the Huntington Village Green for the 50^th Anniversary Commemoration of the dedication of the memorial on June 11, 2022.
• A donation of synthetic turf from the Huntington Tri-Village Little League and Turf Tek USA LLC for Greenlawn Park’s Duffy Field and Memorial Field.
• A donation of a tree from Covanta for Town's annual Arbor Day Observance at Koster Park on April 29.
• An anonymous donation of 200 bare root tree and shrub saplings for the Town's annual Arbor Day Observance at Koster Park on April 29.

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