Avalon Bay Huntington Station Project On The Fast Track?

The Suffolk County Planning Commission will be meeting Wednesday March, 6th and one of the agenda items will be the Avalon Bay Huntington Station project. To see the full tentative agenda for the meeting please click the link at the bottom of the story.

Additionally, the Town of Huntington Planning Board meets Wednesday night at 7pm at Huntington Town Hall to apparently approve the Suffolk County Planning Commission findings and any potential changes. Town of Huntington Planning Board members  include Huntington resident David Pennetta, who was a staunch advocate for Avalon Bay Huntington Station prior to his appointment to the Town of Huntington Planning Board in May 2011. A copy of an op-ed piece, whereby Mr. Pennetta expresses “full support” of Avalon Bay project, to the Long Island Business News is found below, which was dated March 18th, 2011:

Long Island Business News Op-Ed: Huntington Station needs Avalon Bay
Published: March 18, 2011
By David Pennetta

“As Mark Twain once said in a different context, rumors of AvalonBay’s death in Huntington are greatly exaggerated. That the Huntington Town Board is taking a new look at a project some thought had been left for dead last year is good news indeed for those concerned about Long Island’s economic future.

Long Island absolutely needs the kind of development that AvalonBay Communities Inc. proposes. I have heard a number of Huntington Station residents extolling the leadership and success of the recently rejuvenated Village of Patchogue. One of the engines and essential building blocks for that successful metamorphosis was the planning for the 110-unit Clare Rose development, the 291-unit Tri Tec development, the Copper Beech 81-unit development and the Artspace 41-unit development. AvalonBay will help create that same crucial tipping point for Huntington Station.

In Huntington Station, near the train station – an area many say is ripe for renewal – AvalonBay came in with a proposal that would replicate the kind of housing that has revitalized communities across the country. Developments of this kind have helped transform challenged downtowns into vital, exciting neighborhoods. Residents skew to the kind of people who have been leaving Long Island in droves – the young, the ambitious, the single, the empty nesters and those seeking a more vibrant community connection.

The revised development proposal that Avalon Bay submitted to Huntington Town on March 8 is scaled back significantly from the original vision. The new plan will have 111 fewer units and 176 fewer bedrooms than the original proposal. The downsized proposal is now in strict conformity with existing zoning codes, representing financial concessions made in hopes of winning over the project’s opponents.

As a commercial broker, I deal with a corporate base that cares deeply about the quality of the work force here and these employers have real questions about what it will be in the future. The continuing exodus of so many who have been squeezed out of the housing market concerns them profoundly.

Huntington Town Board, don’t let Long Island or Huntington Station down. This is not about destroying a community. It’s about keeping it alive”.

Just last month the Town of Huntington Planning Board approved the conditional site plan approval of Avalon Bay. Huntington Planning Board member, Lynn Healy recused herself from that vote citing a working relationship with one of Avalon Bay’s attorney’s. She recused herself to avoid a potential conflict of interest.

The Suffolk County Planning Commission did recognize the fact that much of the high density affordable housing seems to always concentrate around Huntington Station. To that end the Suffolk Planning Commission recommends that the the Town of Huntington do the following:

To see the full tentative agenda of the Suffolk County Planning Commission March 6th, 2013 meeting, please click on the following link:

http://www.suffolkcountyny.gov/Portals/0/planning/SCPlanningCommission/2013/SCPCMtgNotice030613re1.pdf