2/15/2017 - Huntington Approves Art on More Traffic Signal Boxes
The Huntington Town Board, at its February 7 meeting, approved the installation of public art on five additional signal boxes in Huntington Village, and authorized agreements with the state Department of Transportation to place them on boxes on Main Street (State Route 25A).
The works were selected from 10 submissions reviewed by a panel and forwarded to the Town Board by the Public Art Advisory Committee. They are to be placed at five locations on Main Street, from Prospect Street (in front of the Huntington Public Library) to New York Avenue. The Huntington Village Business Improvement District has agreed to pay up to $1,700 per installation ($8,500 in total) for design and installation of the art on the boxes, which is part of the Town’s Public Art Initiative.
The decorated signal boxes will join five others installed at other locations in Huntington Village in 2015. At the time, it was noted that in other areas around the country, art on traffic signal boxes has been effective in reducing graffiti.
In other action, the Town Board:
-- set a March 14 public hearing on a request by Sunrise Development Inc. to rezone a 5.7-acre parcel at Jericho Turnpike and West Hills Road, South Huntington, from R-7 to R-HS Residential Health Services to allow construction of a 136-bed assisted living facility.
-- approved agreements with the Huntington Community First Aid Squad and the Commack Ambulance District to provide emergency medical ambulance services for the Huntington and Commack Ambulance Districts. The Town Board also set the fees the districts can charge for the services, which they expect to recoup from patients’ medical insurance providers.
-- accepted a $2,000 donation from the Greater Huntington Council of Yacht and Boating Clubs to be used for purchasing LED solar navigation lights to be affixed to 13 channel markers as a measure to improve boating safety.
-- declared support for the Long Island Rail Road’s proposed Third Track Expansion project – a 9.8 mile stretch along the LIRR’s Main Line between Floral Park and Hicksvile – as a measure that will improve service, safety and quality of life for hundreds of thousands of people who live, work and travel on Long Island. The proposal will reduce train congestion and delays and improve bi-directional service during peak hours.
-- authorized an agreement with National Grid involving the purchase and installation of a traffic signal at the intersection of Spagnoli Road and Hub Drive in Melville. National Grid had requested the signal, which is near its training facility on Hub Drive, and has agreed to pay the $147,278 purchase and installation cost.
-- set a March 14 public hearing on an amendment to Town Code, updating the existing public nuisance law with several changes, including a modification of the definition of “repeat public nuisance.” The proposed code amendment also makes it a violation for a person to urinate or defecate in a public place. A separate resolution set a March 14 public hearing on a proposed Town Code amendment to enhance the penalties for possessing non-reclosable open containers of alcoholic beverages on public premises.
-- accepted a donation from Stand Up and Play Long Island of a Paramobile wheelchair to the used at the Crab Meadow Golf Course by persons with disabilities.
-- approved increasing fines and penalties for violating the solid waste management sections of Town Code.
-- approved imposing “No Standing” regulations on two Huntington streets, Floral Avenue and Nash Place, where residents have complained that automobile carriers unloading vehicles for local dealerships have blocked access and created unsafe conditions