The Huntington Town Board held its June 14 meeting, where they closed a loophole in the Town Zoning Code that could have been exploited by developers to create more apartments in Huntington village.
“What we have seen over the past two decades in Huntington village is a business-centric district with accessory apartments morph into apartment buildings with accessory businesses,” said Supervisor Ed Smyth. “This stops under my watch. Since 2020, apartment developers can no longer rely on municipal parking lots to satisfy their off-street parking requirements and now we have closed a loophole that was about the be exploited at the community’s expense.”
The code amendment, sister to Supervisor Smyth’s 2020 legislation limiting the expansion of multi-story apartment development in commercial downtown, closed a loophole regarding previously-issued parking variances and their impact on proposed conversions of existing multi-story structures within 300 feet of municipal parking lots to residential use on the upper floor(s).
OTHER NEWS
In other action, the Town Board:
- Rescinded campground Lodging or “glamping” as a use type in the Town Zoning Code for existing campgrounds.
- Allocated an additional $550,000 in Emergency Rental Assistance Program funding, originally designated for administration of program outreach, back into the rental assistance program fund for Town residents.
- Approved funding for the Highway Department to perform in-house repairs to vehicles, trucks and equipment to extend their lifespan by an estimated 10 years and save taxpayer dollars.
- Authorized up to $1,000 in Open Space Park Improvement funds to purchase five Arborvitaes to fill in the newly planted evergreen buffer at Greenlawn Memorial Park.
- Reauthorized an oyster FLUPSY program for the 2022 season to be operated by the Incorporated Village of Northport at Woodbine Marina.
- Approved the purchase of a computer/data center air conditioning unit to ensure data availability under all conditions. (Subject to Permissive Referendum)
- Approved an agreement with PaceButler Corporation for cell phone and other electronic device disposal, recycling, and data removal at no cost to the Town (and modest revenue per device).
- Appointed Sarah Bean Apmann as a member of the Historic Preservation Commission (term expiring 3/12/2025) and reappointed Elissa Kyle and Robert Kissam (terms to expire 3/12/2025).
- Appointed members to the Town of Huntington Affordable Housing Advisory Board: Kenny Charles, Eliot Lonardo, and Corinna Jaudes (terms expiring 12/31/2025); Richard Koubek (term expiring 12/31/2024); Hunter Gross, Pilar Moya Mancera and Matthew Harris (terms expiring 12/31/2023).
- Donated two vans to the Huntington Youth Bureau Youth Development Research Institute Inc. (HYBYDRI)
PUBLIC HEARINGS
The Town Board scheduled public hearings for the Tuesday, July 12, 2022 Town Board meeting at 2:00 PM to consider:
- Adding a No Turn on Red restriction for eastbound and northbound traffic at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and Larkfield Road in East Northport on school days from 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM.
- Adding No Parking restrictions on the west side of Crown Avenue in Greenlawn south of Depew Street
- Authorizing various actions be taken upon certain properties designated as Blighted in accordance with Chapter 156 of the Huntington Town Code (Property Maintenance; Nuisances).
- Amending the administrative fees to cover the increased cost of processing affordable housing applications, qualifications, waitlist, resales and lotteries to reduce the burden on the taxpayer and resemble that of the current industry standard for New York real estate commissions on transactions.
- Amending the membership of the Beautification Fund Committee to remove obsolete positions, replacing them with the Supervisor or his designee, and increasing the amount of expenditures that the Comptroller and the Supervisor may jointly authorize from $5,000 to $10,000.
- The granting of a variance, the issuance of a Special Use Permit, and the execution of a license agreement pursuant to the Marine Conservation Law, Town Code Chapter 137 for the construction and use of a residential fixed pier/floating dock/boat lift assembly. Applicant: Lorenzo Vascotto Location: Bay Road, Huntington Bay, NY S.C.T.M. #: 0402-007.00-02.00-001.000
- The granting of a variance, the issuance of a Special Use Permit, and the execution of a license agreement pursuant to the Marine Conservation Law, Town Code Chapter 137 for the construction and use of a residential floating dock assembly. Applicant:Steve TyrerLocation: 139 Woodbine Avenue, Northport, NY S.C.T.M. #: 0404-012.00-01.00-003.000
- The granting of a variance, the issuance of a Special Use Permit, and the execution of a license agreement pursuant to the Marine Conservation Law, Town Code Chapter 137 for the construction and use of a residential fixed pier/floating dock assembly. Applicant:Christopher Theodorakis Location: 75 East Shore Road, Halesite, NYS.C.T.M. #: 0400-032.00-01.00-003.001
DONATIONS FROM THE COMMUNITY
The Town Board accepted the following donations and thanks the donors for their generosity:
- Refreshments from Suffolk County Legislator Manuel Esteban for the Town’s Annual Anne Frank Memorial Ceremony.
- Food from Southdown Pizzeria, Jimmy’s Pizza of Centerport and Mario’s Pizzeria for volunteers at various Town beach cleanups and flower plantings.
- A wood side table for the Town Attorney’s office from Jill Russo.
- A mural from Commack North Little League painted on the concession stand at Cedar Road Park honoring late coach Bryan Bonin.
- Reimbursements from Cold Spring Harbor Main Street Association and Business Improvement District for portable lavatories to be placed at the launching ramp and the municipal parking lot in downtown Cold Spring Harbor.
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