The Huntington Town Board held its August 16 meeting, where they approved a free fare week on the Huntington Area Rapid Transit (HART) Bus fixed routes and scheduled public hearings for the September 13 and October 12 meetings.
Supervisor Ed Smyth established a Free Fare Week, approved by the Town Board, to promote the Huntington Area Rapid Transit (HART) fixed route bus service from Monday, September 19 through Saturday, September 24 to support and promote sustainable transportation for International Car Free Day on Thursday, September 22.
“The Town of Huntington is a leader in sustainable and climate-smart initiatives and HART Bus’ Free Fare Week is another way to go green while simultaneously reducing commuting costs,” said Supervisor Ed Smyth. “We expect this effort to go green and waive our fixed route bus fares will get more ‘cheeks in the seats’ and reduce the number of vehicles congesting our roads.”
The Town of Huntington has partnered with Transit Solutions and 511NYRideshare annually to promote Car Free Day and has been a leader in municipal pledges to go “car-free” or “car-light” in recent years. Transit Solutions will have a table in the lobby at Huntington Town Hall on Tuesday, August 23rd from 11:30am to 2:00pm taking pledges from employees and members of the public who commit to going “car-free” or “car-light” for Car Free Day.
More information on HART Bus fixed routes can be found at https://www.huntingtonny.gov/hart.
The Town Board amended its application with the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) to accept an additional $53,279 in funding for the Huntington Area Rapid Transit (HART) Bus System’s Paratransit services. The Town became eligible for additional federal capital funds from the FTA, which is providing 80% of the total eligible mass transportation project cost of $66,599, with the Town and NYSDOT splitting the 20% local match ($6,660 each).
PUBLIC HEARINGS
The Town Board scheduled public hearings for its September 13 and October 12 meetings.
The Town Board scheduled public hearings for the Tuesday, September 13, 2022 Town Board meeting at 2:00 PM to consider:
- Amending the Coastal Erosion Management Permit application fee, in place since 1989, to cover the administrative costs of application approval, commensurate with that of other variance applications.
- Adding a full-traffic actuated signal at the intersection of Pinelawn Road at Hartz Mountain/Long Island National Cemetery in Melville.
- Granting a variance under Local Law 7-1989 (Coastal Erosion Management Regulations) APPLICANT: Alice Hong, 54 Makamah Beach Road, Northport.
- Amending the Affordable Housing Code to allow interested eligible parties to join a waiting list for affordable or workforce units when the original affordable/workforce housing lottery application list has been depleted; and to add renter qualifications for the workforce housing section added to the Town Code in December 2021 for eligible projects of 50 units or less and 51-150 units.
The Town Board scheduled a public hearing for the Wednesday, October 12, 2022 Town Board meeting at 7:00 PM to consider zone change application #2022-ZM-459, Engel Burman at Greenlawn, for a change of zone from R-40 Residence District to R-3M Garden Apartment Special District for the property located on the north side of Pulaski Road, east of Greenbrush Court, Greenlawn, SCTM# 0400-112-01-(010, 012, 013, 015, 016.001, 019, 020, 021, 022, 023); to build 260 non-age restricted residential units on 24 acres.
INFRASTRUCTURE & OTHER NEWS
In other action, the Town Board:
- Protected the Town’s IT infrastructure by investing in HVAC technology to provide stable temperature control for the Information Technology Disaster Recovery Trailer, which safeguards the Town’s systems in the event of a disaster.
- Reallocated previously-approved Maritime infrastructure funding to replace and reposition 55-year-old deteriorating poles at Mill Dam Marina and replace motors on the Harbormaster’s Marine 3 response vessel after the replacement of the Hobart Beach groins, approved earlier in the year, was deemed unfeasible.
- Appointed Lloyd Harbor resident Susan J. Coleman as Deputy Town Attorney. Coleman, Acting Interim Deputy Town Attorney since the July meeting, was an Assistant Town Attorney since 2019, providing legal counsel to the Town Board and other boards and agencies of the Town, representing the Town in litigation in United States District Court and New York State courts, and previously prosecuting violations of the Town Code in district court as well as the Town's history-making Bureau of Administrative Adjudication. Prior to joining the Town, Coleman served for eight years as a staff attorney with the Suffolk County Legal Aid Society Children's Law Bureau, previously as an attorney with the New York State Office of the Attorney General Charities Bureau, and as an associate attorney with The Coye Law Firm in Florida.
- Appointed Craig Turner as Deputy Director of the Department of Planning & Environment. Craig Turner is a longtime Town employee, serving as a Principal Planner with the Town for 21 years, a primary reviewer of applications into the Planning Department, an expert on SEQRA compliance, educating staff on planning and zoning laws and serving as a liaison to the Town's Historic Preservation Commission.
- Co-sponsored its second annual Polar Plunge with Special Olympics New York at the future Frank P. Petrone Crab Meadow Beach on December 11, 2022 from 9:00am to 1:00pm.
ACCEPTING DONATIONS FROM THE COMMUNITY
The Town Board accepted donations from the community, and thanks the donors for their generosity, including:
- Little Free Library structures from the Huntington Public Library to be placed at Town beaches.
- A beautification project to be painted on the handball courts at Manor Field Park by Splashes of Hope, Inc. with Suffolk County Cultural Omnibus grant funding secured by Legislator Stephanie Bontempi.
- 30 purple flags, poles and brackets from the Northport-East Northport Drug and Alcohol Task Force to be displayed on lamp posts along Larkfield Road between 9th Avenue and Webster Place for the Town’s 2nd Annual “Huntington Goes Purple” for National Recovery Month in September.
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