"Save Huntington Village" Hearing

Despite the cold rainy night, over 300 Huntington residents jammed a Town Board Hearing on October 16th, to propose new zoning laws and oppose the over-building of Huntington Village.

The Town Hall meeting, began at 7pm and ran until after midnight. Hundreds of residents organized by the “Save Huntington Village” coalition showed their disapproval to the many ugly apartment complexes that are being built around the downtown.

Town Board members Ed Smyth (R) and Eugene Cook (I) joined Supervisor Chad Lupinacci (R) in proposing new zoning rules - a “New Direction” - to severely limit the number of new apartments - and require adequate new parking - that developers can build in Huntington Village.

The Democrats, in 2003, changed the zoning rules to allow apartments over stores, and in 2015, reduced the requirements for adequate parking for new apartments.

But most residents who spoke, favored even tighter rules than the New Direction proposal. Most residents there proposed new laws to amend the Commercial C6 apartment zoning laws, which aims to reign in apartment buildings sizes and density.

The residents there were supporting tough requirements on zoning changes to limit the building of apartment blocks in Huntington. These requirements are even tougher than the ones previously proposed by Lupinacci.

MaryAnne Hicks, an aide to Council-man Ed Smyth, stated that “residents voiced their opinions,” and that Smyth was listening to the residents.

The group “SAVE HUNTINGTON VILLAGE” distributed a flyer, explaining why residents believe that the law needs to be strengthened, or it will “worsen traffic,” “further reduce parking” and “increase number of apartments” as some negatives to the situation, and can be seen at “SaveHuntingtonVillage.com.”

The proposed zoning changes can be found on the Town’s Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/HuntingtonNewYork)