Plan to turn Melville into walkable downtown scaled back ahead of hearing

Ahead of a public hearing Tuesday, Huntington Town has scaled back a plan to transform parts of Melville into a walkable community with housing and businesses following feedback from a civic group, Town Supervisor Ed Smyth said. 

The most notable of four changes involves reducing the total number of housing units from 3,000 to 2,500 in both the town center and the mixed-use area combined. 

Smyth said the changes were in response to requests from residents and the Sweet Hollow Civic Association, which represents nearly 2,500 residents in a dozen civic, homeowner and community associations.

The town board Tuesday will address changes in the two resolutions aimed at establishing the Melville Town Center Overlay District to create a town center. The second legislation is a code change that would allow special use permits to build mixed-use four-story buildings on streets surrounding the town center.

Both resolutions are for areas south of the Long Island Expressway. The town center would run north and south along Maxess Road, with Ruland Road as the southern boundary.

Tuesday's hearing is the fourth public hearing on the resolutions. 

The amendments also propose that construction of the town center begins before applications for the outer mixed-use area are considered. The mixed-use area can only have 25% of the total housing units built in the town center.

In addition, a developer who agrees to build owner-occupied residential units would be exempt from having businesses on the ground floor of a three-story building in the town center.

The housing units in both areas will be a mix of owner-occupied and rental units.

In a statement to Newsday, the Sweet Hollow Civic Association board said, “We encourage our neighbors and all residents of Sweet Hollow to attend and share their opinions" at the hearing. 

Smyth said the town would pause the acceptance of applications for housing development when it reaches 400. 

“The 400-unit pause is going to give us the opportunity to make sure as each project is being approved to be developed, all the infrastructure and utilities and public services are able to keep up with whatever is proposed.”

Each project will be voted on individually by the town board following a public hearing.

Two developers have approached the town with conceptual ideas for the town center, Smyth said.

Town Board member Sal Ferro, co-sponsor of the resolutions, said if these proposals are approved they will offer an economic boost to an area that has seen a decline in the demand for office space.

“These resolutions will spur a huge amount of private investment to our area,” Ferro said. “And it will be a domino effect not only to the town and county through tax revenue but to the region overall with construction jobs and eventually small businesses such as retail and restaurants.”

The public hearing will be held at 7 p.m. at Town Hall, 100 Main St.

Smyth said a vote on the resolutions will likely happen in October.