Avalon Supporters Speak Out Before Town Board Meeting

A group of nearly 30 people gathered outside Town Hall on Tuesday prior to the Town Board's Sept. 7 meeting to announce their endorsement of the Avalon Huntington Station project.

Members of The Long Island Progressive Coalition (LIPC) and The Coalition to Support Avalon Huntington Station spoke positively about the AvalonBay Transit Oriented Development being proposed in Huntington Station along with a small group of Huntington and Huntington Station residents.

"Today we're here to say we support Avalon Huntington Station," said Lisa Tyson, Director of the LIPC. "There has been a new coalition formed called the Coalition to Support Avalon Huntington Station – over 25 organizations and growing have joined that coalition."

Members of the YIMBY (Yes In My Backyard) campaign were on hand for the press conference as well. The YIMBY campaign, a project of the LIPC, is an affordable housing movement across Long Island that mobilizes housing supporters to say "yes" to initiatives that propose good affordable housing projects. The LIPC, the local affiliate of Citizen Action of New York, is a 31-year-old organization dedicated to promoting sustainable development, revitalizing local communities, creating effective democracy, enhancing human dignity, and achieving economic, racial and social justice.

During the Town Hall meeting hundreds of letters were delivered to the Town Board from Huntington Station residents who say they are in support of the development.

"We have talked to many Huntington Station residents who believe that AvalonBay is the type of development that is bringing solutions to the community," YIMBY organizer Maritza Silva-Farrell said. "Today, we are here to deliver more than 300 handwritten letters from Huntington Station constituents to the Town Board, sending their message, 'Yes In My Backyard.'"

On top of the members from the YIMBY and LIPC support groups, several members from AvalonBay were also present, including Christopher Capece, the Development Director at AvalonBay.

"Not only have we had a large number of individual supporters and homeowners throughout the township, but we also have a coalition of groups that support us that represents thousands of people and I think that really speaks to the broad support that we have out there," Capece said. "The press conference today was an example of that. I think it's great."

Avalon Huntington Station supporters also responded to false information that the AvalonBay opposition has allegedly distributed in the community.

"For too long Huntington Station has been the sight of far too many of the problems that are facing the Town of Huntington: inadequate police protection, gang violence, and now the closing of the Jack Abrams School," said Richard Koubek, President of the Huntington Township Housing Coalition. "As a result the people of Huntington Station are afraid, angry, and frustrated due to years of neglect.

Koubek added, "Unfortunately a loud group of anti-AvalonBay people have exploited this situation, nitpicking at the AvalonBay proposal and spreading rumors and misinformation that have driven up the political heat in Huntington Station – this is why the Huntington Township Housing Coalition formed The Coalition to Support Avalon Huntington Station. … As of this morning, we have 26 stakeholder organizations from the Town of Huntington who have stepped forward with formal endorsements of this coalition."

Opponents to Avalon Huntington Station have cited the re-zoning of the land as the major problem with the proposal. However, AvalonBay officials have said, the only property that would be re-zoned is the 26.2-acre parcel of property where Avalon Huntington Station would be located. The remainder of the half-mile radius would not be re-zoned, according to AvalonBay officials.

But still AvalonBay opponents are not content with the Transit Oriented Development proposal. Jennifer LaVertu of Huntington Station is one of the main opponents of Avalon Huntington Station. As a member of the community, she said she is not happy where the AvalonBay support is coming from.

"The YIMBYs live in Brooklyn and Amityville and Yaphank and want to tell me what to put in my backyard?" LaVertu said. "Who are we kidding here?"

The AvalonBay proposal is the agenda for the Town Board's Sept. 21 meeting.

"Each Town Board member has to have the courage to rise above the current clamor and to do the right thing for the future of Huntington Station and for the future of all of Huntington," Koubek said. "AvalonBay is an unprecedented opportunity to pump millions of dollars into the ailing Huntington Station economy. This is a once in a generation opportunity, economic development during the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression."