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Board warms to AvalonBay plans
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| | | Huntington resident Donna O'Beirne. Photos by Arlene Gross
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January 08, 2009 | 05:43 PM
After three members of the Huntington school board met with AvalonBay executives, they appear more confident of the developer's intentions.
The 530-unit development proposed by the Virginia-based AvalonBay developers is classified as market-rate housing rather than "affordable housing," board President Bill Dwyer emphasized at Monday night's meeting. The proposed development would be a transit-oriented community — within walking distance of the Huntington train station — targeted to people commuting to the city, with rents ranging from $2,300 to $3,000 per month.
Dwyer and trustees John Paci and Rich McGrath were appointed at the Dec. 8 meeting as a subcommittee to meet with Avalon's principals to discuss the board's concerns, chief among them the disparity between their projected numbers of school-aged children and Paci's projections.
After meeting with the developers, Paci said Avalon revised their numbers from 79 to 101 potential students, as opposed to 128 students that would be generated if single-family homes were built on the 26-plus acres instead.
"I think the one issue that we have — and everyone knows — is our space constraints in our primary and middle schools, and eventually that will creep into Finley and the high school, and that's a concern of ours," said Paci, who also warned that an influx of students could mean an eventual redistricting.
"We have to realize as a district, we cannot control what the town does. We are a voice; Avalon is here, they've been working with us and we're trying to get on the same page. ... the Bonavitas [landowners] have the approvals and they can build houses tomorrow. We want to try to come up with the best solution for our district, our community, down the road."
McGrath also restated his initial skepticism of Avalon's original numbers, which were derived from an analysis of all of their Long Island properties, comprising 2,000 residential units. The developer's new projections compare data from two other Avalon communities: Glen Cove, with 256 units and four children and Smithtown, with 312 units and 57 children. Since both communities have significantly fewer units than the proposed 530 units for Huntington Station, they could only render an estimate of the number of school-age children.
"Basically the estimate or the prediction that they say would come out of that project is around 100 kids out of Avalon in Huntington Station," said McGrath. "But that number didn't come out of the air; it was well-documented. Whether you agree with it or not, the basis of this document was reasonable."
When Avalon reran the numbers of children for single-family homes — working under the board's assumption that three-quarters of the homes would have four bedrooms and the remainder, five bedrooms, rather than all five bedrooms as previously stated by the Bonavitas — the figures went down from 169 to 128 kids.
Huntington resident Donna O'Beirne said that Huntington Station is unique and cannot be compared to Smithtown, Melville or other areas on Long Island.
"Huntington Station has struggled to be revitalized for many years," she said. "It is the most densely populated area in the entire township. In my opinion, by having this Avalon project, you're only adding more people and you're making it more densely populated. Our school district is busting at the seams as it is."
Yet two residents of Highview at Huntington, an affordable housing development in Huntington Station, supported Avalon and similar housing complexes.
Affordable housing is defined as housing that is affordable to persons earning a certain income, said Diana Weir, executive vice president of Long Island Housing Partnership, of Hauppauge. Generally, a bank will give a mortgage for 2.5 times the household income, she said; thus, any home priced accordingly would be considered affordable. Conversely, market-rate housing is not geared to any specific income group and is basically limited by what the market will bear.
Nancy Berg, who sits on Highview's board of directors, noted that her two children — a teacher and a registered nurse — were raised on Long Island, and both live out of state because they cannot afford to live here.
After heeding all of the rules and regulations of the National Fair Housing law, the developers plan to target market district teachers, health care workers, first responders and Huntington residents, stated Chris Capece, director of development for AvalonBay's Long Island office. "I think what we're risking here by being shortsighted and opposing something like AvalonBay, is that you're risking losing the middle class ..." Berg said. "We have a lot of businesses that would like to grow in Huntington Station ... They need a middle class to support them."
Thomas D'Ambrosio said the development would contribute to economic development locally. "We cannot continue to build single-family homes at $1 million a pop, which nobody can afford, that are unsustainable economically."
The board also questioned why some projects attract more children than others.
"Not all housing complexes are created equal," said McGrath. "If they rezone this land and somebody else other than Avalon took it over, and it was a lower income project, all of these numbers are off the board."
Trustee Emily Rogan asked how comfortable the subcommittee members were that Avalon would not walk out on the project, to which Dwyer replied. "I am of the opinion, personally now, that this is not something they would just walk away from."
Paci added, "We're dealing with why our economy is hurting at the heart: it's the home value. That's what's sputtering our economic crisis right now. They are at the diciest business right now ..."
Dwyer asked if the board wants to vote on whether they should continue amicable negotiations with the Avalon principals.
And the trustees did just that, voting 6 to 0 to continue their dialogue with the developers.
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