Creek Road Zone Change Pulled From Agenda

A rendering depicts the two-story, wood frame structure with four, two-bedroom apartments planned for 20 Creek Road in Huntington. (Rendering by Martin A. Passante)

By Connor Beach
cbeach@longislandergroup.com

After several residents voiced opposition to it, a zone change proposal for Creek Road in Halesite was pulled from the agenda of Tuesday’s town board meeting.

The zone change is being sought by property owner Peter Ambrosio who wants to build a two-story structure with four two-bedroom apartments at 20 Creek Road.

Supervisor Chad Lupinacci pulled the resolution to approve the zone change from the meeting agenda, citing a lack of support from his colleagues on the town board.

“It didn’t look like we were going to have the support of the majority of the board,” he said after the meeting.

The plan was also opposed by half a dozen residents, who spoke during the public portion of the meeting; several other speakers opposed what they said is general overdevelopment in Huntington.

Jim Leonick, of East Northport, said the town board should make a conscious effort to protect the Mill Dam wetlands, located across the street for the site of the proposed building.

“We already have toxicity and drainage problems there… Adding to the intensity of the use of that property by putting apartments there is only going to hurt,” Leonick said.

Bob Suter, of Halesite, and others, argued that the environmental impacts of the 20 Creek Road project should be considered in conjunction with the Creek Side of the Harbor projects that have been constructed, or are planned, for the properties on either side of 20 Creek Road.

Suter claimed presenting the three projects individually qualifies as “segmentation.”

The developer is “ushering through a single, large project by presenting it in segments to disguise its greater environmental impact,” Suter said.

Huntington-based attorney John Breslin, who is representing Ambrosio, said the project neither sits on a wetland nor constitutes segmentation.

“Clearly this was not segmentation,” Breslin said. “The first Creekside project was in 2006… The other properties were not owned by the same people, and there was no idea that they would even think of this.”

He also stated that, because the town board has already approved zoning changes for the properties to the east and west of 20 Creek Road, it would be inconstant to deny the same zone change to Ambrosio.

The town board could reconsider the zone change at its next meeting, which is scheduled for June 19, 7 p.m. at town hall.