Supervisors say 'Better Burb' ideas a good start

North Hempstead Town Supervisor Jon Kaiman called the proposals from winners of the Long Island Index's "Build a Better Burb" design contest a place to start.

"I think you need to start somewhere," Kaiman said Tuesday after a meeting of the Long Island Regional Planning Council, a body of local government leaders, business executives and civic leaders.

"The challenge to folks like myself and other folks who are responsible for local government is to look at these with open eyes and see if there is a way to incorporate, if not an entire idea, a concept into how we approach planning in the future," Kaiman said.

Another town supervisor at the meeting, Babylon's Steve Bellone, agreed, saying the proposals were a way to "expand our horizon in thinking about what's possible to confront the challenges we face as a region."

Bellone, also a member of the planning council, was at Monday's announcement of the seven winners of the competition, which awarded $22,500 in prize money. The designs ranged from a proposal for accessory apartments in Levittown home backyards as a way to keep generations together and reduce housing costs to elaborate initiatives that incorporated ecologically friendly development, new transit hubs and new ways of financing development.

Michael White, the regional planning council's executive director, said in an interview the design competition was a good way to "draw attention to some of the things we're not doing and we could be doing." He said he hoped some ideas would take off but added that the Island has a long way to go in embracing what he called "the basics" - transit-oriented development, more rental units and increased density.

On that score, planning council vice chairman Paul Tonna lamented the Huntington Town Board's recent rejection of AvalonBay Communities Inc.'s transit-oriented proposal for 490 units of housing in Huntington Station. AvalonBay officials had appealed to the council last month to convey its support of the project, which the council did.

"How disappointed we were with what took place two weeks ago in Huntington in the voting down of AvalonBay," Tonna said at the meeting, noting the loss of the $100-million investment the development represented.

When Tonna asked what impact AvalonBay's rejection would have on future development on Long Island, Robert Coughlan of TRITEC, a real estate firm, said in the short run it would mean less competition - but in the long run "it could signal Long Island is closed for business."

TRITEC outlined for the council its plan to build 291 apartments, 10,000 square feet of office space and 30,000 square feet of retail space in Patchogue. The project has received the village's approval.