The Huntington Town Board held its April 21, 2020 meeting remotely, broadcasting meeting audio live and rescheduling all public hearings, previously scheduled for May 20, for the June 16 meeting; moved the property tax grievance complaint period for the current 2020/21 tax year back one month to start June 1, 2020, rescheduling Grievance Day for June 23, 2020; and temporarily waived all building permit fees for the construction, installation or repair of outdoor accessory structures to a home or other building.
Supervisor Chad A. Lupinacci held a moment of silence at the opening of the meeting to acknowledge and honor the memory former Huntington Town Supervisor Toni Rettaliata-Tepe, former New York State Assemblywoman and Huntington’s first and only woman Town Supervisor to date, who passed away from cancer on April 8, 2020; former Councilman Thomas J. Casey, who passed away on April 3; former New York State Assemblyman and Suffolk County Legislator Regis O’Neil, who passed away April 1; and all the lives the Huntington community lost during the Coronavirus pandemic.
PUSHING BACK PROPERTY TAX GRIEVANCE COMPLAINT PERIOD ONE MONTH
Pursuant to New York State Executive Order 202.22, the Town Board has elected to move the property tax grievance complaint period for the current 2020/21 tax year back one month to start on Monday, June 1, 2020, rescheduling Grievance Day for Tuesday, June 23, 2020.
- For the current 2020/21 tax year, the grievance complaint period starts on June 1, 2020 and ends at 8:00 p.m. on Tuesday, June 23, 2020.
- Grievance Complaint forms will not be accepted before June 1, 2020.
- The Board of Assessment Review (BAR) is authorized to hear complaints for the 2020/21 tax year remotely. The Town will attempt to develop a procedure for hearing grievance complaints in as fair a manner possible under these unique circumstances.
“In an attempt to ease the burden of the financial hardships the current public health crisis has placed on many of our residents, on April 2nd, I requested an Executive Order that would allow the Town to extend the time our residents have to file a grievance complaint on their property tax assessment; thankfully that request has been granted,” stated Supervisor Chad A. Lupinacci, who sponsored the resolution to move the grievance period back one month. “I also requested an Executive Order from the Governor and the County Executive, on March 26th, that would permit residents to pay the second half of their property taxes as late as August 1st without any penalties and the Town sent a second follow-up request on April 10th; we will keep the public updated on these requests once we receive further guidance from the State and the County.”
More information on the Grievance Procedure and BAR hearing procedures may be found online or by contacting the Assessor’s Office at (631) 351-3226 or AssessorInfo@huntingtonny.gov Monday through Friday between 8:30 AM and 4:30 PM.
WAIVING BUILDING PERMIT FEES FOR OUTDOOR ACCESSORY STRUCTURES
The Town Board temporarily waived all building permit fees for the construction, installation or repair of outdoor accessory structures to a home or other building, such as sheds, porches, decks, swimming pools, fences, retaining walls, and other similar outdoor structures and projects until the end of business on September 1, 2020.
Councilman Ed Smyth sponsored the resolution to help stir the economy and encourage people to be outside: “The purpose of the resolution is to help create ‘shovel-ready’ jobs for the trades. It encourages residents within the town obtain building permits for outdoor projects (decks, sheds swimming Pools, porches, etc.), so that work can begin immediately when the quarantine is lifted. Projects with one worker can begin immediately. I anticipate that two-person jobs will be permitted to start in the coming weeks. Larger jobs with many workers on-site will need to wait but at least the paperwork will be ready to go. The Town's Building Department is still functioning (albeit slowly) from home. A lot of the paperwork issues are being moved forward.”
Proper permit applications will continue to be required before the work is commenced and all necessary inspections of the work will continue to be required in accordance with standard procedure, so that the Town has a record of the construction and repairs. Larger construction projects will continue to be delayed until the quarantine and social distancing rules are lifted by the Governor. Residents with questions may contact the Building Permits Department at (631) 351-2821 between 8:30am and 3:30pm.
In other action, the Town Board:
- Accepted a donation of labor and materials from the Larkfield Little League and Aliperti & Son Masonry Contracting Incorporated and thanked them for beautification improvements including the repaving of walkways and the replacement of concrete that was in disrepair near the playing field and concession stand at John J. Walsh Memorial Park.
- Accepted a donation of labor and materials from the Huntington Boys Club Soccer Organization and Ewing Irrigation Incorporated and thanked them for the installation of a sprinkler upgrade system and equipment to operate the system at Half Hollow Park.
- Adopted the recommendations of the CBA Advisory Committee for the allocation of funds in support of certain community programs and approving the funding.
- Approved the Length of Service Award Program (LOSAP) service credits for the Huntington Community First Aid Squad.
- Approved the Length of Service Award Program (LOSAP) service credits for the Commack Volunteer Ambulance Corps.
- Extended the deadline to file annual financial disclosure forms by three months to August 15, 2020 due to the Coronavirus-related extension of the State's income tax filing deadline to July 15, 2020.
The Town Board rescheduled all public hearings scheduled for the May 20 meeting to the Tuesday, June 16, 2020 Town Board meeting at 2:00 PM to consider:
- Allowing the Town to more efficiently resolve property nuisance violations and strengthened the Town’s ability to recover costs of property cleanups.
- Revised changes to C-6 Zoning regulating mixed-use development in the Huntington Village area and anywhere zoned C-6 in the Town, based on input gathered from the public during and after the October 16, 2019 public hearing: increasing the required parking to be provided on-site from 1 parking space per apartment to 1.5 spaces per studio or one-bedroom apartment plus 0.5 spaces per additional bedroom; eliminating the previously proposed Floor-Area Ratio (FAR) method of calculating density limits; creating a new density limit on new construction or projects expanding the footprint of existing buildings, by requiring the combined square footage of upper floors not exceed 150% of the first floor.
- 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 55 (Public Safety, Department Of), Chapter 111 (Fire Prevention), Chapter 119 (Graffiti), Chapter 134 (Local Waterfront Consistency Review), Chapter 153 (Plumbing Regulations), and Chapter 156 (Property Maintenance; Nuisances); to ensure the authority of Town personnel to issue appearance tickets, as set forth in Section 4-1 of the Town Code, is fully recognized and implemented throughout the Code. The amendment would ensure that the authority to issue notices of violation returnable before the Bureau f Administrative Adjudication is also recognized throughout the Code.
- Amending the Code of the Town of Huntington, Chapter 188 (Trespassing); to add a minimum and maximum monetary penalty for violations and to clarify that violations of Chapter 188 may be adjudicated before the Bureau of Administrative Adjudication.
- Amending the Code of the Town of Huntington, Chapter 198 (Zoning), Article I (General Provisions) and Article XI (Conditional Uses; Supplementary Regulations; to revise the Town Code to allow for a new type of indoor commercial recreational facility.
- Amending the Uniform Traffic Code of the Town of Huntington, Chapter 3, Article II, §3-3, Schedule J. Re: Capel Drive – Dix Hills – Parking Restrictions; adding No Parking restrictions on school days from 8:00 AM to 1:00 PM along both sides of Capel Drive in Dix Hills, from Vanderbilt Parkway to Landview Drive.
- Amending the Uniform Traffic Code of the Town of Huntington, Chapter 2, Article IV, §2-7, Schedule G. Re: Railroad Street – Huntington Station –Yield Sign; adding a Yield Sign for westbound traffic in the right turn lane on Railroad Street at Lowndes Avenue in Huntington Station.
- 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 A202 (Subdivision and Site Plan Regulations); to revise Appendix H - Street Trees and Plant Material to remove invasive species and add a greater variety of mostly native species to ensure invasive species are not planted and a greater diversity of native tree and shrub options may be planted during development, protecting local ecosystems from the detrimental impact of planting invasive species.
- Amending the Code of the Town of Huntington, Chapter 198 (Zoning), Article XI (Conditional Uses; Supplementary Regulations), §198-74 (Vision Obstructions at Intersections), and Traffic Code Chapter TC6 (Miscellaneous Provisions), Article III (Vision Obstructions), §TC6-7 (Designation of Vision Obstructions); expanding the designation of vision obstructions that would constitute a public safety issue, allowing the Departments of Public Safety and Transportation and Traffic Safety to address and rectify these public safety issues. Several issues involving vision obstructions along roadways have been reported and investigated by the Town but were deemed not actionable under the current Town Code.
The Town Board scheduled new public hearings for the Tuesday, June 16, 2020 Town Board meeting at 2:00 PM to consider:
- Amending the Code of the Town of Huntington, Chapter 93 (Civil Remedies) Section 93-3 (Bureau of Adjudication Administration); to clarify that the Bureau has no power to rule on any constitutional claims raised by respondents appearing before it.
- Amending the Code of the Town of Huntington, Chapter 93 (Civil Remedies) Section 93-9(B) (Final Decisions and Judgments); so as to give an administrative law judge the discretion to waive the imposition of a penalty in the rare instance where there are extraordinary circumstances.
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