Huntington considers giving businesses exceptions from parking requirements

The Town of Huntington will hold a public hearing next month on an amendment to the town code that would allow the Zoning Board of Appeals to grant parking variances to restaurants in industrial districts.

The current law allows restaurants and other service businesses in industrial zones, but the wording of the town code requires them to have more parking than restaurants in other zones.

The public hearing is Feb. 10.

Town code determines the number of parking spaces a business needs based on square-footage, and office buildings have one standard, while restaurants have another.

The current code requires restaurants and service businesses in industrial zones to have enough spaces for the combination of both types of business.

Huntington code currently has no process to allow for an exception to the rule. Officials want to create a variance that would take into account that a lower number of spaces could be appropriate in some circumstances because the peak hours of operation often differ for offices and restaurants.

The amendment would establish a process for pursuing a parking variance from the ZBA so restaurants wouldn’t have such a high space requirement.