Sammis Street could become Huntington historic district

A new historic district may be coming to Huntington.

The town’s Historic Preservation Commission voted to recommend that the town board create the Sammis Street Historic District.

The move comes after a developer initially applied to the town planning board for a three-lot subdivision at 45 Sammis St. that included demolishing an existing legal two-family home on the property. The plan was to construct three new homes, each on a 5,000-square- foot parcel, town officials said.

Neighbors objected to the plan.

"The beauty and the aesthetics of the block would change if this is allowed," said John Rutig, who has lived next to 45 Sammis St. for 29 years in a home that dates to about 1918. "We need to try to stop it."

After the April 7 planning board meeting, town officials said the developer submitted a letter indicating the builder would be proposing a revised subdivision plan that included keeping the two-family home.

Residents, however, are moving forward with the historic designation request.

Sammis Street, just south of downtown Huntington off New York Avenue, was paved in 1928 as part of Huntington’s third major paving project. In 2003 the street was designated as a historic roadway because of its concrete construction and towering sycamore trees that also date to the 1920s. The designation did not apply to the houses on the street, as the residents opted out of designating the homes as historic, town officials said.

Historic districts enable the community to preserve the unique characteristics of special neighborhoods by requiring that new structures, or renovations to existing structures within a district, keep with the general architectural character of the neighborhood, according to a guide on historic preservation on the town website.

At a historic preservation commission public hearing to consider the designation, town historian Robert C. Hughes and the commission's secretary said it also meant something else.

"Primarily it means we would not allow a house to be demolished unless it was economic hardship," he said.

If the owner of a home in a historic district applies for a building permit, he said, instead of just getting approval from the building department, also needed would be approval from the historic preservation commission and possibly the town board.

The process to create the historic district was initiated last month when 28 of the 40 property owners in the proposed area submitted a petition to the town clerk, town officials said.

The commission voted 6-0 to make the recommendation to the town board at its May 24 meeting. The town board will have 90 days to schedule a public hearing once it receives the recommendation.