Huntington board's right on senior housing
A file photo of Huntington School Board president Bill Dwyer. Credit: John Dunn
Newsday criticizes the Huntington School Board for being involved in community issues including AvalonBay and a recently proposed development of the Huntington Housing Authority . This criticism is misplaced.
With AvalonBay, the school board opposed creating a zoning description that would have allowed for density higher than anything permitted by current town codes and be applied only in our school district. We had strong support from Huntington Station residents, and the town board listened, refusing to create the new zoning district. Newsday described that defeat as unfortunate. What was unfortunate? That the maximum allowable housing density for the Town of Huntington wasn't increased, or that the community was heard and heeded?
In referring to the housing authority, a Newsday editorial dismissed our opposition to increased housing density, calling it the "dread D-word" and repeating the housing authority's justification that because it was for senior housing they were entitled to break the law. This request should have been brought to the town board, but it was not. Why? The developer faced a Feb. 9 deadline to apply for a hefty tax credit to increase its profits. Fortunately, the zoning board of appeals cares more about the law than potential profits for developers, and the board unanimously denied the request for a zoning variance.
Newsday, not surprisingly, found a way to tie this issue to the closing of the Jack Abrams School, stating we should be working to get it opened. Our actions against these proposals directly support those efforts. Community issues such as a disproportionately large amount of high-density housing in Huntington Station, coupled with a lack of code enforcement by Town Hall, contribute to an environment fostering crime in the neighborhood around our school.
Newsday thinks our dollars would be better spent on education than hiring counsel to oppose senior housing. We agree. Unfortunately, our requests to both the housing authority and Town Hall to reconsider the development on the grounds that it was clearly illegal were ignored, leaving us no choice but to hire an attorney to fight it. If the housing authority and Town Hall are really interested in the welfare of our students, they will reimburse us for our legal expenses so that those funds can be directed to education.
Bill Dwyer
Huntington
Editor's note: The writer is president of the Huntington school board.
Out East with Doug Geed: Wine harvests, a fish market, baked treats and poinsettias NewsdayTV's Doug Geed visits two wineries and a fish market, and then it's time for holiday cheer, with a visit to a bakery and poinsettia greenhouses.
