Supervisor Chad A. Lupinacci's Initiatives

Improving the Parking Experience in Huntington

• Implemented new regulations on the size and density of buildings in C-6 Zoned mixed-use developments, increasing the required parking to be provided on-site to the application review process.
  
• Acquired property at northwest corner of New York Avenue and Gerard Street in Huntington Village to add 71 municipal parking spots.
• Launched the Passport Parking app from Oct.-Nov. 2019 at the Huntington LIRR train station and Huntington village to simplify metered parking payment.
• Acquired property at southeast corner of Pulaski Road and New York Avenue in Huntington Station to add much-needed parking in the area at a significantly reduced price.

Making Government More Transparent

• Started the practice of live-streaming meetings on Town website and government access TV channels Optimum 18 and FIOS 38
• Added evening meetings to the Town Board Meeting schedule to make it easier for residents to attend, almost doubling the number of meetings
• Enacted measure to allow Town Board meetings to be held in the community, and held first Town Board meeting “on the road” at Elwood Middle School
• Increased transparency by improving communication of important Town meetings and public hearings via TV, web and social media

Ethics Reforms

• Enacted term limits on elected Town officials consisting of three four-year terms
• Enacted measure requiring the Town’s Board of Ethics to elect a chairperson, enhancing the independence of the Ethics Board from Town leadership
• Strengthened the Town’s Ethics Code and financial disclosure requirements

Cutting Red Tape

• Worked with the Town’s Building Department to achieve a same-day permit process for swimming pool and demolition permit applications, with more permit types on the horizon
• Onboarding all public-facing Town Departments to the "At Your Service" self-serve online ticket portal for residents to submit requests, complaints, and report other issues to directly to a specific department
• Integration with the Suffolk County Clerk's Office to make all land deeds filed since 1987 available to our Professional Geographic Information System (GIS) users 
• Eliminated redundant, vacant and obsolete boards and committees

Beautification

• Secured an additional $15,000 for the Traffic Signal Box Public Art Project as President of the Huntington Cultural Affairs Institute, Inc., a non-profit educational corporation chartered in NYS (privately funded, not funded with taxpayer dollars)
• Greenlighted and participated in the Huntington Station art mural installation under the New York Avenue train trestle spearheaded by Birchwood Intermediate School faculty, students and parents
• Enacted "Adopt-a-Corner" beautification initiative allowing residents and organizations to adopt, beautify and maintain a select piece of roadside property
• Secured $20,000 as President of the Huntington Cultural Affairs Institute for the Town's first annual holiday light display throughout Heckscher Park (privately funded, not funded with taxpayer dollars)

Fiscal Conservatism/Revenue-Generating Programs

• Maintained the Town's AAA bond rating from both Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s Investors Services, reflecting the Town's conservative fiscal practices and strong economy
• Refinanced outstanding bonds at a lower rate, saving taxpayers $275,000, due to renewed AAA bond rating
• Implemented demand-based pricing promotion for off-peak tee times at Crab Meadow Golf Course, increasing revenues from non-resident use of the course
• Implemented revenue-producing measure reducing the volume of liquid waste delivered to and disposed of at the Town’s Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) on Creek Road while taking taxpayers off the hook for the costs to run the facility.
• Passed a Parking Violations Amnesty Program to encourage those with outstanding parking fines and surcharges to pay their fines at a discount rate, cost-effectively recovering monies owed to the Town

Historic Preservation

• Historical marker installed commemorating a confrontation between anti and pro suffragists at the site of a July 1913 woman’s suffrage rally in Huntington Village
• Historical marker installed for the Wright House, originally built in 1894 for Civil War veteran and Town of Huntington Constable Captain James Wright, at the Whaling Museum in Cold Spring Harbor
• Stolen historical marker at the Coltrane Home replaced with updated wording
• Historical marker installed, donated by the 2018 Huntington High School Student Government, commemorating President Theodore Roosevelt’s visit to Huntington on July 4, 1903 in celebration of the Town of Huntington’s 250th Anniversary
• Historical marker installed at 70 Main Street, the former home of Ida Bunce Sammis, one of the first two women elected to the New York State Assembly a century ago

Infrastructure Improvement

• Secured $11.35 million in State and Municipal Facilities Program (SAM) Grant funding for commuter parking improvements at Cold Spring Harbor LIRR Train Station and Huntington LIRR Train Station
• Approved $3.54 million for road rehabilitation projects including the paving of 37.5 miles of roads and drainage improvements
• Secured over $22 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds, which the Town Board dedicated to the Huntington Station Hub Seer Project in December 2021, which will encourage economic investment and dramatically revitalize the Huntington Station business district for decades to come.
  

Environmental/Open Space Improvement Initiatives

• Approved a measure to apply for and receive grant funds for a Climate Smart Communities Certification Project to issue an RFP, retain a consultant to perform a Government Operations and Community Greenhouse Gas (HGH) Inventory, 100% Renewable Energy Feasibility Study, and Capital Phase-In Plan to determine and set a schedule to meet the Town’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Goals
• Car Free Day Long Island September 21, 2018: The Town of Huntington captured the Top Town title to go car-free or car-light for 2018.
• Opened Town’s first spray park, Sgt. Paul Tuozzolo Memorial Spray Park for its inaugural summer season (Elwood Park).
• Opened Harborfields Community Playground, inclusive for children of all physical abilities, completed (in partnership with Harborfields CSD, first with a school district, 50% EOSPA-funded) in November 2018, ribbon cutting held in March 2019.
• NYS CFA Grants sought to leverage EOSPA matching funds for several projects: Heckscher Park centennial fencing, Cow Harbor Park/Woodbine Marina restroom facility, Halesite Marina Park reconstruction
• Suffolk County Downtown Revitalization Program grants sought to leverage EOSPA support: Laurel Road, Northport and Broadway, Greenlawn streetscaping projects
• Approved funding for new, energy-efficient LED lighting/poles for Manor Field Park synthetic field
• Memorialized opposition to offshore drilling for oil and gas in the ocean in proximity to Huntington’s waterways, its negative effects on our local waters and quality of life, and the potential disruption to the livelihoods of commercial fisherman and small businesses relying on clean waters and beaches
• Allocated up to $115,000 in Neighborhood Enhancement funding from the EOSPA Open Space Land and Park Improvements Reserve Fund for parking and streetscape enhancements to the Poe Place right-of-way in East Northport, near Kew Avenue Park and John J. Walsh Park.
• Received NYS DEC grant to plant 84 trees at Manor Field Park for Arbor Day, April 17 2019.

Public Safety

• Enacted quality of life changes to Town Zoning Code, strengthening the Town’s ability to curb illegal activity and improve public safety for our entire community by prohibiting properties from being advertised for uses inconsistent with the zoning district in which the property is located
• Installed security cameras in all HART buses
• Replaced the unlit channel markers in Huntington's inner harbors with 120 buoys equipped with LED lights for navigational safety.
• Initiated the training of all Town staff tasked with ensuring public safety (lifeguards, park rangers, bay constables, and public safety patrols) on how to administer Narcan to reverse a suspected overdose
• Initiated the stocking of Narcan kits to all Town beaches, skate parks and pools

Public-Private Partnerships

• Partnered with Huntington Hospital Northwell Health on skin cancer prevention initiative, installing free sunscreen dispensers at Town beaches and parks, using no taxpayer funding (paid completely by Huntington Hospital Northwell Health)
• Partnered with Huntington Township Chamber of Commerce, Huntington Village BID and Qwik Ride to offer a free shuttle service in downtown Huntington, paid for entirely by sponsor advertising on the vehicles, to provide immediate parking relief for the Huntington village area while more permanent parking solutions are researched

Resident-Initiated Law

• Added ADA-accessibility to the sand and water of Huntington's shores after a resident suggested wheelchair-accessible Mobi Mats be offered at Town beaches
  
• Updated Town Code to reflect best practices on raising chickens, lifting the limitation on allowable chicken coop size, after holding a public hearing to consider the change upon receiving a resident inquiry
• Ceremoniously renamed the Town “Hauntington” on October 31 upon receiving a letter from a 7-year-old resident requesting the name change in the spirit of Halloween

Shared Services & Initiatives

• Began the practice of rescuing dogs from other Towns’ overcrowded animal shelters to end the practice of other towns' euthanizing due to overcrowding, made possible due to the success of the Huntington Animal Shelter’s rehabilitation training program and adoption rate
• Advocated for LIRR electrification between Huntington Station to Port Jefferson Station in a joint letter, with Smithtown Supervisor Ed Wehrheim and Brookhaven Supervisor Ed Romaine, sent to the NYS Legislature’s Long Island Delegation, highlighting the environmental benefit along with the potential boost to the local economy for areas north and south of the Greenlawn and Northport stations

Veterans

• Made the Cold War Veterans Tax Exemption permanent
• Opened the lottery process on Columbia Terrace, a 14-unit affordable veterans condominium development in Huntington Station.
• Enacted a real estate tax exemption for service men and women who participated in Operation Graphic Hand, which maintained postal service operations during the 1970 U.S. postal worker strike.

Youth Services

• Secured $10,000 in State Aid from Senator John Flanagan's office for the Huntington Sanctuary Project, which serves at-risk youth in the Town
• Secured $600,000 in Federal Aid for the Huntington Youth Bureau’s Sanctuary Project from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Basic Center Program (BCP), part of their Runaway and Homeless Youth (RHY) funding