Apartment Plan Seeks Final OK

An abandoned building currently at the corner of New York Avenue and Mill Lane in Halesite where a developer is planning a three-story, mixed-use building with nine apartments.
Long Islander News photo/Connor Beach

By Connor Beach
cbeach@longislandergroup.com

A developer is seeking final approval to construct a three-story building with nine apartments on New York Avenue in Halesite.

Plans first submitted to the Huntington planning department in 2016 show that property owner Vincent Abbatiello is planning to construct a 16,354-square-foot, mixed-use building on the corner of Mill Lane and New York Avenue.

The .5-acre, 110 New York Avenue property is the former site of Jorgensen’s Service Station, but now houses an abandoned building that is slated to be demolished if the plan is approved, according to site plans.

Plans show that the proposed mixed-use building would include 4,257 square-feet of retail space and around 1,100 square-feet of lobby and mechanical area on the first floor, as well as a small cantilever.

The second and third floors would contain nine apartments and have an area of 6,035 and 5,053 square-feet, respectively.

The property is currently zoned C-6, and town code permits the proposed building with apartments above commercial space.

Huntington-based attorney John Breslin, who is representing Abbatiello, said the town Zoning Board of Appeals granted a request for a “nominal” parking variance of “one or two spaces” last summer.

“Unlike a lot of the applications, this one has more than enough parking,” Breslin said, citing the 34 on-site parking spots provided in the plan.

The ZBA approval was granted with the condition that no restaurants can use the first floor retail space.

Breslin said that plans for the new building have been in the works for over two years, and Abbatiello is looking to move forward with construction “as soon as possible.”

“The building hasn’t been used in years,” Breslin said. “I think this proposal will be a tremendous upgrade to what is there now.”

The Huntington Planning Board was scheduled last night (Aug. 22) to make a conditional determination to approve the site plan.

Qwik Ride Launched In Huntington Village

Town officials and business representatives cut the ribbon to officially launch the Qwik Ride service in Huntington Village last Friday.  Photo/Michelle Martines

Huntington Town Officials along with representatives of the Huntington Township Chamber of Commerce, Huntington Village BID, The Paramount, and Qwik Ride held a ribbon-cutting to officially launch free shuttle services to the public and employees of businesses in Huntington Village.

The shuttle is free and paid for by advertising on the vehicles, which are brightly colored, luxury, six-passenger electric golf courts. The aim of the program is to have village employees park in remote lots on the outskirts of the village to free up parking for customers and restaurant patrons. The Qwik Ride shuttle service expands upon and is offered in addition to The Paramount’s mandatory private employee shuttle program, which has been in effect for over a year and a half. Paramount employees are required to park at Town Hall on show nights and get shuttled to work, freeing up anywhere from 30 to 50 parkings spots, according to Paramount’s Dom Catoggio.

John Yancigy and Dan Cantelmo launched Qwik Ride in Huntington offering free rides to the public and village employees.  Long Islander photo/Peter Sloggatt

Several restaurants have signed on to support the village employee parking initiative. They include Almarco Italian Grill, Christopher's, Honu, Jonathan's Ristorante, Kashi Japanese, Meehan's, Neraki, New York Panini and Old Fields Barbecue.

The Qwik Ride shuttle service is launching with five electric air-conditioned/heated vehicles with TVs, sound systems and lighting. The vehicles can be charged at either of two charging stations at Town Hall or the three charging stations located at The Paramount.

The free service is app-based and will run year-round, daily from 3:30 p.m. through midnight Sunday through Wednesday and 3:30 p.m. through 4 a.m. Thursday through Saturday. The shuttle will make stops at the municipal parking lots located at Town Hall and near Prime in Halesite, and Rite Aid and Besito in Huntington Village, as well as requests for pick up at other village locations all through the Qwik Ride app. Find it it QwikRides.com.

Democrat DQ'd From Assembly Race

Supporters of Republican Andrew Raia, left, successfully had Democratic challenger Michael Marcantonio  tossed from the ballot based on his residency.

By Connor Beach
cbeach@longislandergroup.com

First-time Democratic challenger Michael Marcantonio lost a legal battle Tuesday to stay in the running for the 12th New York State Assembly seat.

State Supreme Court Justice Richard Horowitz, a Democrat, handed down the original decision on Friday after supporters of veteran New York State Assemblyman Andrew Raia (R-Northport) challenged Marcantonio’s residency in the district, which runs from Northport in the north to Baywood in the south.

Horowitz agreed with the suit’s claim that Marcantonio, who claimed to live at his parents’ Northport home, failed to meet the five-year state residency requirement to run for office because he registered to vote in Durham, North Carolina while attending law school at Duke University, where he graduated in 2015.

A State Supreme Court Appellate Division Justice upheld Horowitz’s decision to disqualify Marcantonio as a candidate on Tuesday in Brooklyn.

State law requires that a candidate be a resident of the state for five years and a resident of the assembly district for 12 months immediately preceding the election.

Marcantonio, 31, an attorney who took a leave from Manhattan-based Kirkland & Ellis to run for office, said that even while attending Duke Law School he continued to live in Northport for half the year, and that he decided to register to vote in North Carolina in an effort of fight “Republican voter suppression tactics” in the region.

Raia’s supporters withdrew a previous claim that Marcantonio had not lived in the 12th district for at least a year before the election.

Raia said he felt there was strong case law to support Horowitz’s decision to remove Marcantonio from the ballot.

“The Court of Appeals is quite clear on this,” Raia said. “It’s as simple as you are a resident where you register to vote.”

Marcantonio said he felt the decision punished him for exercising his constitutional right to vote while in college.

“It’s completely wrong and unfair,” Marcantonio said. “Our election laws are structured in such a way as to discourage participation in politics, not to encourage us.”

Marcantonio, who argued that he has always been a resident of Northport, said that the ruling is “going to have a chilling impact on youth involvement on Long Island.”

“The laws, politics and policies on Long Island are completely unamenable to young people, and when someone tries to fight for the people and change the politics they run to a judge to kick me off the ballot,” Marcantonio said.

Raia pointed out that there is a clear way for New Yorkers to exercise their right to vote, while still maintaining their residency and connection to the community.

“I would encourage students to do what I did in college… vote absentee ballot,” Raia said. “This way you have a say in the local issues that matter to the people of the 12th assembly district.”

As part of his initial decision issued on Friday, Horowitz also determined that Marcantonio’s nominating petitions were invalid. Horowitz revised his decision on Monday to accept the petitions after Lawrence Silverman, Marcantonio’s attorney, filed an objection.

Horowitz’s decision to allow the petitions, which was not addressed in the Appellate Division decision, means that a democratic “committee on vacancy” can choose a substitute candidate to run in Marcantonio’s place.

Huntington Democratic Committee chair Mary Collins said she was unsure who was next in line to replace Marcantonio on the ballot.

“We weren’t expecting this,” Collins said. “We’ll have to play it by ear.”

The committee on vacancy usually has between a week and 10 days following the appeal to nominate a new candidate.

As of Wednesday afternoon, Marcantonio said he had not yet decided if he was going to appeal the decision to the State Court of Appeals.