Town adds housing cap to proposed downtown Melville project

Town of Huntington officials recently decided to limit the number of housing units under a proposed plan to transform part of Melville south of the Long Island Expressway into a walkable downtown.

Last week the town board held a special meeting and added a cap of 3,000 housing units to two resolutions aimed at bringing more housing and businesses to Melville through code changes.

“The cap had been contemplated and talked about and requested by the civics,” Town Supervisor Ed Smyth said in an interview. 

At the meeting, the board also adjusted language in one of the two resolutions by removing properties that front Walt Whitman Road as future sites for mixed-use buildings because of traffic concerns, Smyth said. 

In the past year Smyth has met with Melville community members to discuss creating a town center with a walkable downtown running north and south along Maxess Road, with Ruland Road as the southern boundary.

Starting later this month, the town board will hold three public hearings on the two resolutions, one to create a Melville Town Center Overlay District and another for a code change that would allow special use permits to build mixed-use four-story buildings on streets surrounding the town center.

Public hearings on those measures will be held at 7 p.m. on April 30 at West Hollow Middle School in Melville, and at town hall at 2 p.m. on May 7 and at 7 p.m. on June 11.

Approval of the overlay district would allow construction of four-story buildings with commercial operations on the ground floor and residential units on the other floors. Buildings would be set back at least 30 feet, Smyth said. The current industrial zoning would remain in place.

Both resolutions will need at least three votes from the five-member board for approval.

Smyth said the changes would ensure Melville remains an economically viable area of Huntington and offers property owners more flexibility. He estimated 5,000 people would move into the area during a period of seven to 10 years if both measures are approved.

Smyth said the town board will retain power over development and will “vote on every individual project” if the two resolutions are approved.

The Civic Association of Sweet Hollow said in a statement that the group appreciated past meetings with town officials and are optimistic about the town center concept. The statement also said the group was awaiting the required environmental review.

The addition of new language to the resolutions wasn't without friction.

Board member Brooke Lupinacci, an attorney, cast the sole no vote on whether to schedule public hearings on the measures.

She cited the lack of an environmental impact study and said language in the resolutions limiting the housing component wouldn't be legally binding. 

“I cannot vote ultimately to proceed with these resolutions amended or not because they do not contain a plan, the research, the documentation, schematics or visuals,” Lupinacci added.