Crowded hearing recessed on four-story apartment building in Huntington
Attorney James Margolin, seen at the podium, speaks on behalf of developer John Kean and property owner Alan Fromkin, at the Huntington Zoning Board of Appeals public hearing on Thursday night at Town Hall. The hearing, which was at overflow capacity, was adjourned. Credit: Deborah Morris / Newsday
The Huntington Zoning Board of Appeals started, and then adjourned, an overflowing public hearing Thursday night on a widely maligned proposal to build a four-story apartment building in the downtown area.
Hundreds of people, possibly as many as 700, showed up to hear details and give comment about the project.
Developer John Kean and Alan Fromkin, owner of five contiguous parcels that includes Huntington’s first fire station, propose constructing a four-story retail and 84-unit apartment building with a parking garage along Main Street, Stewart Avenue and Gerard Street.
The partners appeared before the ZBA to request variances, including for building height, ground-level uses in a mixed-use building, parking structure lot coverage and parking setback requirements.
Before the start of the meeting the line to get into Town Hall flowed into the parking lot. Many who made it inside could not get into the meeting room and listened to the hearing over speakers in the hall, until the audio system failed.
At the conclusion of the developers' presentation, the ZBA voted to adjourn the meeting so it could be held at a bigger venue to accommodate more people.
“As soon as we can secure a venue that can accommodate the needs of this particular presentation we will put it up on the town website,” said John Posillico, ZBA chairman.
On Wednesday, the Huntington Planning Board voted to strongly recommend to the Zoning Board of Appeals that they deny all variances requested on the application.
Members of Save Huntington Village, a group of residents concerned with the increasing number of apartment buildings downtown, sent out a mailing in early January urging attendance at Thursday's zoning meeting to oppose the project.
A pre-application for the proposal was originally submitted and denied by the Town's Planning Department in 2015. The applicants then revised their preliminary plans four times from August 2015 to April 10, 2017, with revisions made to the number of apartments, stories, height and architecture, town officials said.
The applicants submitted a revised application to the ZBA in April 2017.
The Planning Board reviewed the application and issued advisory recommendations. The applicant requested an opportunity to address the Planning Board and asked that the board reconsider their recommendations. The Planning Board required a traffic circulation study and profile renderings before they would reconsider.
The applicant submitted the new studies requested by the Planning Board in August. The Planning Board voted on its recommendation Wednesday.
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