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Rokah Sejour

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Huntington Town Hall

By Rokah Sejour 

Overdevelopment was one of the main concerns throughout the meeting for several residents of the Town of Huntington who joined the Town Hall meeting on Tuesday, March 12, sharing their concerns on the plans to develop the Vineyard Bay Estates property, located at 78 Bay Ave. and 211 Vineyard Road, Halesite. 

“This is not a request, but a plea on behalf of a neighborhood, on behalf of the conservation of wildlife, and the history of Huntington,” said Karen Witkowski, a Huntington resident.

Residents worried that the aftermath of this project would lead to extensive traffic in the area, more parking needs and more exhaust in the air, in a space already limited to handling these increases.

“Both of the roads that I use to leave the neighborhood would be impacted by this because they both would be developed,” said Gillian Inglis Glaser, a new resident of Huntington Bay Village.

Glaser spoke on the lack of notifying the residents on the proposed development, having spoken on the restrictions that would be put on their community not just after but also during the construction process of this project. 

“I think that’s what we are looking for, transparency,” Glaser said. “In general, we need more information and transparency about the process and what’s happening.”

Other residents addressed that only a few members of the community received notification of the plans for development, with some expressing that even with the notification, there was a lack of transparency in the impact that this development would have on the community.

Construction for the development is expected to last at least two years, with the developers intending to build eight homes in the area.

There were further concerns about the outcome of the future on displaced wildlife. Some feared that wildlife would be pushed into the community, into residents’ homes and yards, after being displaced from their natural environment. One resident explained that this is already an issue, which he attributed to past developments.

The Nathan Hale Nature Preserve Committee has requested that the Town of Huntington favorably considers and records a motion to order the Planning Board to vacate its findings that the New York State Environmental Quality Review Act has been met with this subdivision. Furthermore, that there be no significant environmental impacts and the issuance of a negative declaration pursuant to the Planning Board’s review of the environmental assessment data and the regulations as set forth in the resolution filed with the Town Clerk’s office on Feb 6.

There is a call from NHNPC for the Planning Board to undertake a comprehensive assessment of environmental, wildlife, safety, traffic, flora, fauna, water and air issues associated with the development. 

The committee is requesting that the Town Board requires the Planning Board to instruct the developers to immediately stop any further development and create architectural renderings of the project, with detailed depictions of the proposed homes, as situated on the proposed sites, along with the true heights of the 200-foot-long walls that are calculated to be 10 feet high and possibly 20 feet high to hold back the slope. 

“There are countless reasons that this development should be halted,” said Denise Goodwin Pace, a 44-year resident of Huntington and a member of the Nathan Hale committee.

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File photo

By Rokah Sejour

The Town of Huntington Planning Board unanimously voted Feb. 21 on the preliminary approval of the Vineyard Bay Estates proposed subdivision at 78 Bay Ave. and 211 Vineyard Road, Halesite.

This project has been planned for years and all of the proper analysis has been done. Improvements have been made to the plans as a result of some of the grievances brought by members of the community, the board said. 

A map detailing the proposed plans for the development showed plans for one flag lot, a widening of Bay Avenue, a proposed 1.84-acre open-space dedication to the Town of Huntington, and a 4-plus acre of hillside to be preserved within the subject lots. 

“You don’t have the right to make a determination tonight,” said Lawrence Kelly, a Bayport attorney present at the meeting. “You have a lot of procedural infirmities and you should just take the time to look at those.” He implored the board to take time to review the SEQRA determination.

This comes after a coalition was formed, The Nathan Hale Nature Preserve Committee, consisting of neighbors and residents surrounding the proposed Vineyard Bay Estates development.

The committee’s concerns focused on the preservation of the plot’s environment and ecosystem, especially with regards to the town’s steep slope law which sought to protect and safeguard scenic landscapes and the vegetative features of steeply sloped lands throughout the town. The committee worries that the statuesque specimen trees, rare and lush flora and fauna that the property preserved and protected will be at risk. 

It was brought up by NHNPC that the town should purchase the area to ensure that it would remain a preserved and protected mark for Huntington. However, Vineyard Estates said that the property was not for sale.

A lawyer was formally retained by the committee for expert counsel in respect of the concerns of the committee ahead of the Feb. 21 meeting.

In a letter dated Feb. 20, the committee wrote to the town Planning Board detailing their interest in the property as well as their mission purpose.

The committee hoped that any further approvals would be suspended for the Vineyard Bay Estates development until reports from independent experts on the environmental impact of this proposed project are completed through the SEQRA process. 

It was also requested by the committee’s lawyers in a Feb. 20 email to the Planning Board that “the public hearing be reopened so that the public may comment on the plans, as revised, and in response to any SEQRA determination this board, as lead agency, may be issuing.”

It was explained that this particular meeting was not a public hearing and that the other party was not present to counter any claims made against them.

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Huntington High School. File photo

By Rokah Sejour

Huntington Union Free School District Board of Education focused their second budget presentation Monday, Feb. 26, for the 2024-25 school year that highlighted the 1000/5000 series analysis and capital expenditures. 

The current budget draft totals $152,828,294, a 4.43 present change from last year’s adopted budget. However, due to tax levy limits the budget is expected to decrease 3.83 percent and would total a budget of $151,955,866.

The transportation budget amounted to a total of $12,916,093, seeing an increase of 4.06 percent. The transportation or the 5000 series portion of the meeting discussed the three-year term with Beacon Mobility/Huntington Coach is set to expire in June of this year. The company is also planning to equip all buses and vans with video recording systems.

Though recording equipment is already in place on all the buses, the company is working with the district to test their parent app, which is a pilot program that would allow parents to be privy to the exact location of their child’s bus at all times by accessing a software through their phones. Parents would be able to see their child’s bus on the way and how far the bus is from their existing bus stop.

This program when implemented will be done via a slow rollout and is not expected to be launched by September of the 2024-25 school year.

The board also gave an update on a few of the summer 2023 projects like the completion of the Washington boiler room replacement, the Finley partial parking lot reconstruction, the Jack Abrams STEM partial roof replacement and the newly completed high school turf field.

Capital reserve funds

The district’s capital reserve balance is at a total of $5,014,347. This current budget proposal is anticipating a building aid ratio for the 2024-25 school year to be 0.398, which would be extracted from the capital reserve balance. The voter-approved cap for the capital expenditure is expected to be finalized by March 25.

The capital project proposals from the district five-year plan were on display in order of priority with the phase 3 of the Jack Abrams STEM building roof replacement due for implementation. 

The cafeteria air conditioning, Huntington high school auditorium and visitor bathrooms, and Huntington primary schools window replacements were also among the priority list.

The Board of Education meeting can be accessed via the school district’s website, www.hufsd.edu/leadership/board.html. 

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Northport High School. File photo

By Rokah Sejour

Northport-East Northport Union Free School District Board of Education held a meeting Thursday, Feb. 15, focusing on the non-instructional budget for the 2024-25 school year as well as possible changes in policy for attendant zones within the district. 

The proposed budget totals $189,934,741, an increase of $6,896,313 (3.77%).

The buildings and grounds, security and transportation departments of the district presented proposals based on their developmental priorities. 

Builidings and grounds

The buildings and grounds department proposed the purchase of a backhoe that would aid in the work being done in-house by the buildings and grounds staff within the school district.

“You’re really saving money in the long run,” said John Lackner, director of facilities. The backhoe would allow the department to save rental fees that have in the past amounted to approximately $15,000 for building four playgrounds. It would also be beneficial during circumstances like weather emergencies where one may not be readily available. 

The department does have a smaller backhoe available, but Lackner said that it is smaller and is not always optimal for some of the work that is being done, not to mention it is at 75 percent functioning capacity resulting from damages and has therefore questioned its “life expectancy.” 

Renovations for multiple restrooms, maintenance of parking lot, filter replacements and fire alarm upgrades, among other requests, were also part of the proposal.

Security

Supervisor of security, John McEnroe, proposed a glass mitigation pilot project at the high school reception and common areas. The technology would use a product called Smart Tint that would reduce the visibility in these spaces in case of a lockdown but otherwise would remain transparent. 

McEnroe requested that additional cameras to cover blind spots and new playground equipment be added, as well as computer hardware for camera system monitoring. He also advocated for ongoing staff training and development in order to build readiness for emergency responses.

Transportation

In an effort to combat increases in maintenance costs and issues, the transportation department is requesting two big buses. Trish McGrane, the transportation supervisor said, buses had to be “leased a number of times,” already during the 2022-23 and the 2023-24 school years due to “a number of buses” in their fleet being over 20 years old. 

McGrane further proposed an implementation of the Wayfinder program, through the company Transfinder. The program would use voice-activated turn-for-turn directions through a tablet in order to assist drivers in situations where they have to follow another route in an emergency or a bus breakdown.

McGrane anticipates that this will reduce any foreseeable rerouting issues and prioritize safety in emergencies.

Changes in attendance zones

During the second half of the meeting, the board reviewed several policies, one of which was attendance zones. 

As it stands, students’ transportation is normally zoned for a particular elementary or middle school. However, there are times when students are placed by the school district in different schools as when they have an individualized education program, other reasons determined by the district or if the request is parent led. 

The requests did not initially have a deadline for submission, which in turn has caused difficulties for the district in knowing what school students would be attending and to plan accordingly.

With this policy, the request would adopt a submission deadline of April 1 and coincides with the deadline for private schools requests for transportation.

This change is due to New York State Education Law Section 3635 requiring that schools must provide students transportation from the school of attendance. 

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