New Proposal Increases On-Site Parking Requirements, Limits Size of Upper Floors
At its March 10 meeting, the Huntington Town Board set various public hearings, including measures considering revised C-6 Zoning changes and a process that would allow the Town to more efficiently resolve property nuisance and quality of life issues, along with other hearings for March 31 and May 20.
Supervisor Chad A. Lupinacci sponsored a resolution scheduling a public hearing for Tuesday, March 31, 2020 at 2:00 PM to allow the Town to more efficiently resolve property nuisance violations and strengthened the Town’s ability to recover costs of property cleanups.
“The Town frequently receives complaints from residents about their neighbor’s neglected properties, with issues such as overgrown vegetation, stagnant water, unsecured entrances or windows,” said Supervisor Lupinacci. “If enacted, this will strengthen the Town’s enforcement abilities, improve quality of life in our neighborhoods and shift the burden of these cleanups from the taxpayer to the neglectful property owner.”
Supervisor Chad A. Lupinacci and Councilman Ed Smyth co-sponsored a resolution approved by the Town Board scheduling a public hearing for Tuesday, March 31, 2020 at 2:00 PM to consider 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.
If approved, the Chapter 198 changes to C-6 Zoning would be effective anywhere zoned C-6 but excludes the Huntington Station Overlay District to encourage investment in the underserved area.
As proposed by Lupinacci and Smyth in 2019, the C-6 Zoning changes still include:
· Establishing a new 38-foot height limit.
· Promoting economic activity on the ground floor and eliminating mixed-use projects that are essentially apartment buildings in disguise, by limiting storage or community space to no more than 15% of the ground floor.
· Prohibiting the establishment of parking in the front of existing buildings converting to mixed-use.
New changes proposed by Lupinacci and Smyth at the March 10, 2020 meeting include:
· Increases 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.
· Eliminates the previously proposed Floor-Area Ratio (FAR) method of calculating density limits.
· Creates 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.
Supervisor Lupinacci stated: “I am looking forward to seeing these critical measures implemented to protect quality of life in Huntington and stop the abuse of loopholes in the Town Code that were created in 2006 and have resulted in every unpopular project you have seen built in downtown Huntington over the past 11 years.”
Councilman Ed Smyth added: “The C-6 amendments are a work-in-progress. I will continue to press for 2 parking spots for the first bedroom and .5 for each additional bedroom. However, increasing the parking requirement to 1.5 spots is a step in the right direction. There are other details of C-6 to be worked on but increased on-site parking is long overdue.”
The newly proposed revisions to C-6 Zoning would be enacted with the site plan review changes originally proposed in Chapter A202, requiring traffic impact analysis; sewer and system capacity impact analysis in the Huntington Sewer District, including signoff by the Departments of Environmental Waste Management and the Department of Planning and Environment; compliance with the Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan; requiring the Historic Preservation Commission to advise the Planning Board with architectural review for certain projects and any type of demolition; architectural guidelines to ensure a building's design is consistent with its location; requiring the height and setback of the building to be similar to that of surrounding buildings and for design to complement existing neighborhood aesthetics. The changes would also be enacted with changes originally proposed to Chapter 198 eliminating the ability to use the Town's newly acquired municipal parking lots in the Huntington Village Hamlet Center to satisfy parking requirements for new development.
In other action, the Town Board:
· Issued a Certificate of Approval in an Historic District Re: 227 Main Street, Huntington – Old Town Hall Historic District; to build an addition to the Old Town Hall building for use as a hotel, after the addition gained approval from the Historic Preservation Commission, and for which a public hearing was held at the February 11, 2020 Town Board meeting, after the hearing was published to the Town website, social media, TV channels and to the press on January 14, 2020. More information on the Old Town Hall/Huntington Village Hotel Partners Application Timeline.
· Approved an agreement with the Long Island Growers Market, LLC for the purpose of allowing a Farmers Market to operate in the Town of Huntington in the Elm Street parking lot on Sundays between 7:00am and 12:00 pm from June 7 through November 22, 2020.
· Approved an agreement with Spatialist Inc. to supply the Comper Appraisal Program to the Town of Huntington for use by the Assessor’s Office, including support, maintenance, hosting and data updates.
· Approved EOSPA Park Improvement and Neighborhood Parks funds for recommended improvements, consisting of a new playground and a spray park, at Manor Field Park.
· Authorized the Town of Huntington to co-sponsor the Greater Huntington Council of Yacht and Boating Clubs, Inc. Huntington Waterfront Festival on May 17, 2020.
· Accepted the dedication of land located on the west side of Little Neck Road, approximately 124 feet south of Mariner’s Court, Centerport, New York .
· Established a Workplace Safety Policy Committee authorized to adopt Town Policies and Procedures related to compliance with laws and regulations related to employee and workplace safety.
· Reappointed members of the Historic Preservation Commission.
· Amended the Code of the Town of Huntington, Chapter 178 (Taxation), Article XI (Exemption for Volunteer Fire Fighters and Ambulance Workers), §178-38 (Amount of Exemption; Application Procedure; Continuation of Benefits); to require property owners to resubmit an application every five years for a continuation of the tax exemption, in accordance with recommendations made in an audit by the New York State Comptroller’s Office and as outlined in the Town’s subsequent Corrective Action Plan.
The Town Board scheduled other public hearings for the Tuesday, March 31, 2020 Town Board meeting at 2:00 PM to consider:
· 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.
The Town Board scheduled a public hearing for the Wednesday, May 20, 2020 Town Board meeting at 7:00 PM to consider authorizing the Supervisor to execute a license agreement with the Centerport Fire District for the use and occupancy of a portion of the municipal parking lot located at the intersection of Washington Drive and Fleets Cove Road.
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