Creating Rental Opportunities for Millennials and First Time Home Buyers

Councilwoman Susan A. Berland co-sponsored legislation to amend the Affordable Housing Law that will increase opportunities for affordable housing for a young workforce looking to rent any newly constructed apartments and young families looking to buy their first home. Councilwoman Berland has always advocated for apartments over stores and they need to be affordable to help keep our young people in Huntington.  This amendment incorporates state mandated language from the Long Island Workforce Housing Act. Developers building five or more units of apartments over stores in the C-6 zone will be required to simultaneously build an affordable unit. Plans for less than five units would require payment into the affordable housing trust fund to help first time homebuyers. Furthermore, this resolution states that the quality of furnishing, features, location and appearance of an affordable unit must be substantially the same as a market unit. 

Meeting Parking Demands in Commercial Zones

Councilwoman Berland sponsored legislation to revise the town parking code to require residential apartments over stores in commercial zones to have on-site parking for the apartments or to provide off-site parking within 1,500 feet on a non-residentially zoned parcel. As part of this amendment, municipal lots will no longer be used to calculate residential parking for apartments over stores. The use of municipal lots will continue to be utilized for the commercial component of the mixed use development. This amendment will free up much needed parking spaces.

 

Remediating Zombie and Vacant Properties

Councilwoman Berland co-sponsored legislation to receive grant funding from the Local Initiatives Support Corporation pursuant to the “Zombie” and vacant properties remediation and prevention initiative of New York State Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman.

 

Leading the Fight Against Blight
Councilwoman Berland spearheaded the first “Anti-Blight” legislation in the Town, which assigns a point system to various types of blights, fines the property owner if the blight is not removed and places the property owner on a public “blight registry” until the property is clean and code compliant. 

Keeping Huntington Graffiti Free
Councilwoman Berland supplemented her fight against blight by partnering with the Huntington Station Business Improvement District to create the Town’s first voluntary graffiti removal program.

Holding Landlords Accountable for Code Violations
Councilwoman Berland passed legislation to ensure the safety of residents and to hold landlords accountable for potential code violations by permitting inspections of the common areas of properties that contain multiple dwellings. 

 

Saying “No” to a T.O.D. in Huntington Station
Councilwoman Berland was the first member of the Huntington Town Board to publicly denounce the creation of a Transit-Oriented District (T.O.D.) in Huntington Station.