Supervisor Chad A. Lupinacci Bio
Chad A. Lupinacci was elected Huntington Town Supervisor for a four-year term beginning January 1, 2018. Supervisor Lupinacci is a life-long resident of the Town of Huntington. He graduated from Walt Whitman High School in the South Huntington School District and is a parishioner at St. Hugh of Lincoln Roman Catholic Church in Huntington Station.
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In the first month of his inaugural term as Town Supervisor, Chad A. Lupinacci delivered on promises to enact term limits for all Town elected officials, increase government transparency and return Town government to the people with an open door policy, which has included lifting limitations on the full three minutes each resident may use to speak at public hearings during Town Board meetings and expanding communication with residents on impactful measures being considered by the Town Board. The Town began live-streaming Town Board, Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) meetings on TV and online under the Lupinacci administration. Continuous ethics reforms have been enacted, from strengthening financial disclosure requirements to beginning the live-streaming of Ethics Board meetings, and enhancing the independence of the Board of Ethics from the elected officials who appoint its members.
Supervisor Lupinacci has overseen many measures passed to protect quality of life, preserve the suburban charm of our Town, and expand economic opportunity. The Lupinacci administration has streamlined government operations, expanded online services and cut red tape to assist Code Enforcement more efficiently address noise pollution, public safety hazards, and other nuisance violations. Supervisor Lupinacci’s most significant achievements in this area include tackling the issue of inappropriate development, delivering on another major promise, and expanding property rights to help reduce the cost of living on Long Island for property owners and renters alike.
Carefully crafting a plan to protect the aesthetics, quality of life and economic function of Huntington’s historic downtowns, Supervisor Lupinacci first proposed code changes aimed to control the density of mixed-use buildings with apartments in commercially-zoned downtown areas, alleviate burdens on our infrastructure, and address the long-time parking congestion issue plaguing the Huntington Village Hamlet Center. After a lengthy public input period, sweeping measures were enacted in 2020 regulating the size and scale of mixed-use development in Huntington Village and anywhere commercially zoned C-6 in the Town, establishing new building height and density limits, strengthening parking requirements for new development, promoting the local economy, and ensuring historic aesthetics are preserved; new requirements were also established for Planning Board site plan review to avoid overburdening our roads, sewer systems and stormwater infrastructure.
Supervisor Lupinacci also worked diligently to expand property rights and help improve the cost of living for all Huntington residents, creating real choices for generations of extended families who want to raise children and retire on Long Island. Sweeping changes to the accessory apartment code will now make more residential property owners eligible to add legal accessory apartments to their homes while expanding options for renters without adding to the unsustainable burden on our roads, water supply and schools that new high-density construction creates. Now, homeowners also have the choice of renting out either their main dwelling or the accessory dwelling unit of their home, creating an option to downsize and generate rental income while retaining homeownership, particularly benefitting residents on fixed incomes. Legal accessory apartments, as opposed to new construction, fulfill affordable housing needs within the footprint of existing residential structures, preserving the suburban character of our Town.
Many steps have been taken under the Lupinacci administration to protect and expand open space, preserve farmland and protect our drinking water. The Lupinacci administration has focused on the cost-effective revitalization of our waterfront facilities and waterfront economy, making decades-long overdue improvements, largely in-house, to make our marinas and waterways safer and to protect our shorelines. Major steps have been taken under the Lupinacci administration to greenify Town operations, with a focus on grant-funded investments in renewable energy and the delivery on a promise that preceded his administration: the move to electric and battery-powered landscaping equipment for the maintenance of Heckscher Park, Huntington Town Hall and other Town properties to reduce noise pollution and environmentally hazardous emissions.
The pro-business Lupinacci administration has made the revitalization of the long-underserved Huntington Station community a priority while Supervisor Lupinacci’s policies, flexibility and open-mindedness have enabled local economic growth and recovery from the economic burdens of the COVID-19 pandemic, including the reimagining of allowable use types to help fill vacant space in commercial zoning. Supervisor Lupinacci’s leadership has seen the establishment of the Small Business Economic Recovery Task Force and the implementation of new, fee-free processes and procedures to assist small businesses in getting back on their feet, helping businesses keep their doors open while complying with State-imposed COVID-19 restrictions. In Huntington Station, progress on the Conte Community Center and the Manor Field Spray Park will become realities serving as recreational complements to burgeoning economic activity along the Route 110 corridor.
Supervisor Lupinacci demonstrated effective leadership in crisis, zealously and consistently advocating on behalf of taxpayers, residents and businesses against the catastrophic threat posed by the LIPA tax certiorari lawsuit, in its ninth year of litigation when he assumed office, during the final years of the decade-long litigation. Lupinacci promised not to settle for the offer on the table in 2017, committing to explore every feasible legal option and fight for a better deal, which was achieved in 2020 in unprecedented form after many settlement offers were rejected. The terms of the LIPA settlement proposal accepted by the Town Board in September 2020 were far superior than any previous terms proposed to the Town or negotiated by any other municipality in similar litigation: taxpayers are now protected against new tax challenges – a right for any property owner – on the Northport Power Plant property during the entire 7-year term of the deal, which will be phased in gradually with an option for the protections to last up to 12 years; LIPA has waived all claims to the potentially devastating $825 million in tax refund payments looming over Huntington taxpayers for the past decade; LIPA agreed to pay an additional $17.5 million -- $14.5 million directly to the Northport=East Northport School District and $3 million to the Town of Huntington for COVID-19 relief – an achievement no other settlement offer to the Town or any other jurisdiction even contemplated, resulting in better terms for other municipalities; a favored-nation clause also offers the Town the benefit of any future favorable terms negotiated in other jurisdictions; and approximately $460 million in guaranteed taxes paid by LIPA to the Town over the course of the initial 7-year term of the deal.
Supervisor Lupinacci has presented a Tax Cap-compliant budget every year and his administration is one of the very few that came in under the Tax Cap for 2021, even in the face of a global economic crisis. This financial achievement is underscored by the yearly renewal of the Town’s AAA-stable bond rating and confirmed by New York State Comptroller’s Fiscal Stress Monitoring System (FSMS) report, released in September 2020; under Supervisor Lupinacci's leadership, the Town of Huntington scored zero – the best score – for fiscal stress for the second consecutive year, highlighting the Town's strong financial position when the COVID-19 crisis hit.
Under the Lupinacci administration, the Town of Huntington established the first court system of its kind on Long Island; the Bureau of Administrative Adjudication will simultaneously resolve code violations, improve quality of life and protect public safety town-wide while continuing to shift the financial burden off the taxpayer. Supervisor Lupinacci has streamlined operations and cut red tape while providing for the seamless delivery of essential services before and during the COVID-19 pandemic and the Lupinacci administration will continue to provide cost-effective, accountable government services to residents and businesses by listening to the needs of our community, utilizing shared services, taking a creative approach to problem-solving and continuing conservative budgeting practices.
Supervisor Lupinacci assumed the position as the Town’s chief administrative and fiscal officer after spending five years as a member of the New York State Assembly, representing a district that included the western half of the Town of Huntington and part of the Town of Babylon. Supervisor Lupinacci’s priorities as an Assembly member were the creation of new jobs and the retention of existing ones. He put forth proposals to jump-start the local economy, including reducing taxes on new and small businesses and providing incentives to hire new workers, including veterans and the unemployed. He also fought to curb crime so that parents can raise their children in a safe and secure environment and collaborated with stakeholders at all levels of government, as well as parents, school administrators and local businesses, to address the underlying causes of criminal activity. He also worked to reform the school financing system, fought for meaningful mandate relief, and to reduce restrictions placed upon school districts to pursue alternative funding streams.
Prior to being elected to the Assembly, Supervisor Lupinacci served three terms as a Trustee for the South Huntington Union Free School District. During his tenure as a school board member, he worked diligently to improve graduation rates and the quality of district-wide education.
Supervisor Lupinacci has taught classes in Business Law at Farmingdale State College and Political Science at Hofstra University. Supervisor Lupinacci’s main interests lie in the area of American Politics, especially the American Presidency and State and Local Politics. In addition to his academic duties, Supervisor Lupinacci has been an attorney specializing in real estate law and estate planning.
Supervisor Lupinacci was educated at Hofstra University in Hempstead, earning his B.A. in Political Science. He graduated Summa Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa. As an undergraduate, Supervisor Lupinacci interned for Assemblyman James D. Conte and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton. He later went on to earn his Juris Doctor at Hofstra University School of Law and his Master’s in Business Administration at the Zarb School of Business at Hofstra University.