Town Remembers Victims Of 9/11

As the names of those killed were read aloud, a veteran placed a single rose in a container. Long Islander News photos/Peter Sloggatt

At ceremonies held Sunday in Heckscher Park, Huntington remembered the 43 town residents who lost their lives in the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

Family and friends of those being remembered were among the hundred or so who gathered on a drizzly, grey Sunday before the town’s 9/11 memorial, a narrow path lined with jagged steel columns that leads to a water feature.

Traditionally staged on the anniversary of the attacks, this year’s ceremony was moved to Sunday both to accommodate Rosh Hashanah as well as the wishes of family members who have found it difficult to attend the ceremonies on a weekday, said Huntington Supervisor Chad Lupinacci, who emceed the ceremonies.

An Honor Guard of veterans group representatives presented the colors the 9/11 Memorial service at Heckscher Park Sunday.

Saying that on that day 17 years ago, “our lives were changed forever,” Lupinacci welcomed the families in attendance as “those who suffered the pain of the 9/11 terror attacks in a profound way.

“It is in memory of your loved ones that we gather here today,” he said, noting that “they were our neighbors and our friends,” and despite the years that pass, “they will never be forgotten.”

A lone piper plays Amazing Grace from among the rows of jagged steel beams that make up the September 11 Memorial in Heckscher Park.

Field Of Honor The Work Of Many Hands

Hundred of American flags, each dedicated to a veteran or active military service member, fly in the Field of Honor in front of Huntington Town Hall.

By Peter Sloggatt
psloggatt@longislandergroup.com

While it may seem like the flags that fly in front of Town Hall in Huntington spring up overnight, that’s not the case. The Field of Honor, a display of hundreds of American flags dedicated to veterans, is the work of the Huntington Kiwanis Club which assembles a small army of volunteers to get the display up.

Originally conceived as a Veterans Day fundraiser by the Kiwanis, the Field of Honor has become a tradition in town, expanding its presence to span from Sept. 11 through National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day on Dec. 7. Kiwanis Club members and volunteers from local scout troops and Key Clubs, worked this past Saturday to get the flags flying in time for the Town’s 9/11 Memorial Ceremonies staged across the street at Heckscher Park on Sunday.

The Field of Honor is organized by Huntington Kiwanis and was put together by volunteers in time for Sept. 11 memorial ceremonies.

Thanks to their efforts, and a playbook that has made the seemingly monumental task almost seem easy, the flags were up in time for the ceremonies, according to Field of Honor Chairman Dan Picard.

The Field of Honor remains a fundraiser for Kiwanis Club, which uses funds to support veteran’s causes and children’s charities. Among its initiatives, the club sends underprivileged children to Kamp Kiwanis summer camp, and funds a shopping trip at Christmas time.

Volunteers affixed the flags to poles which were then put in placed in a display in front of Town Hall.

Flags that fly over the Field of Honor can be purchased and dedicated to a veteran or active military service member. The cost is $35 and after the display is disassembled in December, the flag is made available for the buyer to pick up, or it can be donated to veteran’s groups.

To buy a flag, visit buyaflag.org online, or call 631-991-2001 for more information.

Kiwanis of Huntington member Dan Picard chairs the Field of Honor project.

From Selling Harleys To Storing Stuff

Florida-based Simply Self Storage wants to construct a new storage facility on the site of the former Lighthouse Harley-Davidson at 670 E. Jericho Turnpike in Huntington Station.

By Connor Beach
cbeach@longislandergroup.com

A national storage company has submitted plans to construct a two-story self-service storage facility at the site of a former Harley Davidson dealership in Huntington Station.

Plans received by the town planning department in February show that Florida-based Simply Self Storage wants to construct a new storage facility at 670 E. Jericho Turnpike in Huntington Station.

The 1.9-acre property formerly housed Lighthouse Harley-Davidson, but the two-story building on the property is currently vacant.

Simply Self Storage is looking to demolish the existing abandoned building and construct a new two-story building with a walkout basement in the rear.

The proposed building would have a 33,264-square-foot footprint, and the total building area would be 99,792 square-feet, according to town documents.

Current town code states that storage facilitates may only be one-story high.

Huntington-based attorney Michael McCarthy, who is representing Simply Self Storage, said at last weeks Planning Board meeting that the code was designed to prevent “barracks-style” storage facilities that have a “warehouse look.”

“This building will look and conform to anything that you see on the streetscape there on Jericho Turnpike,” McCarthy said.

McCarthy said he felt the storage facility would be a “good repurposing” of the property. He said the new building will not appear much larger than the current one, but will be an “economic generator and a low trip generator.”

Town code requires 50 parking spaces for the proposed building, but the plans only provide for 30.

The planning board recommended at last week’s meeting that the ZBA require appropriate landscaping and architectural features along all sides of the building to “mitigate the look of a warehouse type building along Jericho Turnpike,” according to planning officials.

The application will have to go before the Zoning Board of Appeals for a special use permit to operate a self-storage facility in a C-6 zone, area relief, parking relief and a variance for the number of stories.