Gives updates as part of annual “State of the Towns” panel
Melville – Huntington Supervisor Frank P. Petrone participated in the annual “State of the Towns” panel at the 2015 Smart Growth Summit held by Vision Long Island on November 20.
Supervisor Petrone was one of several town supervisors, village mayors and other officials, including Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano, who addressed the audience at the panel, which annually leads off the activities at the summit. Supervisor Petrone listed some of the Town’s smart-growth related accomplishments over the past year, including completing the Gateway Plan, the environmental impact statement for four proposed Huntington Station projects; getting Suffolk County to include in the 2016 county budget $1 million in planning funds to extend sewers to Huntington Station; issuing a request for proposals for a parking garage in Huntington village; and continuing public input sessions as a precursor to a development plan for the Melville employment center.
The Supervisor listed as a major challenge dealing with the limitations of the state tax cap and spoke about his suggestion that initiatives that are the result of referenda, such as open space bond acts and the creation of parking district to float a bond to build a parking structure, be exempted from the cap. The Town has been in contact with state legislators about considering such an exemption.
