Affordable housing plan faces final hurdles

A long-delayed affordable-housing development in East Northport is now poised before one of its final hurdles.

Greenlawn-based nonprofit Housing Help Inc. appeared before Suffolk County this month seeking a variance for its Matinecock Court complex, a proposed 155-unit development of workforce housing slated to be built at Pulaski and Elwood roads.

If the county approves the variance, which would allow the project's sewage-treatment plant to be built 75 feet closer to some of the housing units than is currently allowed, it will be another step closer for the project that was first proposed in 1978.

Susan Lagville, executive director of Housing Help, said the sewage-treatment plant -- including its placement and design -- is the last thing the county has to approve before the project is built.

"We've been working on this for a long time," Lagville said.

If the county rejects the variance, Lagville said plans for Matinecock Court will likely change, stripping the project of about 15 units to make more room for the sewage-treatment plant.

When built, the project would be split evenly between renters and homeowners, Lagville said.

The project has remained viable despite intense local opposition and two lawsuits the nonprofit filed against the Town of Huntington. One of the suits, alleging discriminatory zoning, reached the U.S. Supreme Court, which upheld a lower court's ruling against the town; the other suit was settled.

"I think once it's built, people's worries will be put to rest once they get to see what it's going to look like and understand who's living there," Lagville said.

But Chris Triolo, a Northport resident who created the opposition group Stop Matinecock Court, said his group is marshaling its forces to urge the county to reject the project's variance request.

Triolo, who noted that a recent petition against the variance already garnered hundreds of signatures, said the project is wrong for the area, and the sewage-treatment plant would be too close to nearby schools, including Pulaski Road Elementary School, located at the same intersection and Northport High School, slightly to the north.

"Would you want your kids playing sports next to a sewage-treatment plant?" Triolo asked. "We've always said there are major health concerns regarding this project."

The county's decision is expected in January, Lagville said.