HALF HOLLOW HILLS Copyright © 2012 Long Islander Newspapers, LLC
N E W S P A P E R
Online at www.LongIslanderNews.com VOLUME FFTEEN, ISSUE 11
TOWN OF HUNTINGTON
2 SECTIONS, 32 PAGES
THURSDAY, MAY 31 , 2012
MELVILLE
Housing Draws Hundreds Israel, Senior Newsday requests buffer, overflow crowd hears zone change plan Labate To Battle By Danny Schrafel
dschrafel@longislandernews.com
Deer Park’s Stephen Labate will face off with Dix Hills’ Steve Israel, who is seeking his seventh two-year term in the House of Representatives. By Danny Schrafel dschrafel@longislandernews.com
As he seeks re-election in a newly drawn Third Congressional District, Congressman Steve Israel will face off against an Army Reservist with a background in finance. Raised in Queens, 44-year-old Stephen Labate, now living in Deer Park, has been a financial adviser since 1994 and an active Army reservist since 1987. Military service first piqued his interest when he visited St. John’s University and learned about their ROTC program. “I found the whole program to be interesting, something I really wanted to do,” he said. But his cousin urged him to learn what it’s like at the bottom in order to become a better leader. While he continued in ROTC, Labate enlisted in the Army Reserves as a private. He said his first serious involvement in politics began a few years ago, when the debate over health care (Continued on page A11)
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Newsday officials have asked Deshon Partners, who are seeking to build 261 senior units on a parcel that is also the location for a proposed Hindu center, to incorporate additional buffers in their design to quell potential noise and quality of life complaints. In a May 22 letter to Supervisor Frank Petrone, attorney Vincent Pizzulli, Jr., representing Newsday, said his clients do not oppose rezoning and the development. However, the newspaper’s attorney argued steps should be taken to avoid future problems. “Newsday wants to make sure the advancement of such residential development does not come at the expense of existing businesses, such as Newsday, that moved to the area before the housing trend began,” he said. Deshon Partners is seeking a zone change from I-5 Light Industrial to R3M Garden Apartments in order to build 261 affordable, for-sale senior homes, and to transfer 5 acres of development rights from Meyers Farm to allow the construction of a temple for the Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam (B.A.P.S.) Hindu organization. A town park would be established at Mey-
An aerial rendering of the proposed 261-unit affordable senior community. ers Farm, which would be called Sweet Hollow Park. Deshon Partners previously agreed to offer a covenant that would make the Deshon Drive community age-restricted. Twenty percent of the 261 for-sale senior units would be affordable, said Matthew Cox, an attorney representing Deshon Partners. The remainder would
MELVILLE/DIX HILLS
Wolf Hill Road Closed For School Graduation Portions of Wolf Hill Road will be closed to accommodate the St. Anthony’s High School graduation on Saturday from 8:45 a.m. until 9:15
FREE
a.m. The closure extends from the five corners intersecting with Old Country Road and Pidgeon Hill Road to St. Elizabeth’s Paris.
be capped at 130-percent of the town median income. “The result of this plan will be that an underserved segment of the population will be provided with a new and attractive housing alternative that will remain affordable in perpetuity,” Cox said. Newsday’s operations create heavy late-evening/early-morning newspaper and truck activity, Pizzulli said. Their parking lot is often used for community events attended by thousands of people during the weekends. In a May 22 letter to the town board, RMS Engineering President Christopher Robinson, who was also retained by Newsday, suggested clustering the units to maximize setbacks. Attorney Morton Weber told Newsday officials in a May 21 letter that Deshon Partners has offered additional buffering to reduce noise impacts to use sound-attenuating building materials to reduce noise impacts on residents (Continued on page A11)
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