A pair of environmental groups has a message for Huntington Town after it approved an overlay district in Melville: shuck off.
The Long Island Oyster Growers Association and Open Water Enterprises LLC filed a lawsuit in State Supreme Court over the Melville Town Center Overlay District, Newsday reported. The groups are the second to sue Huntington over the zoning; the first was filed by a pair of residents on similar environmental grounds.
The lawsuit alleges December’s resolution for the district violated the State Environmental Quality Review Act. Open Water Enterprises’ chief operating manager claims the buildings permitted by the zoning would connect to the Southwest Sewer District and lead to contaminating Long Island’s aquifer.
The town planning board did not appropriately address the potential impact “on groundwater, surface waters, plants and animals in the coastal estuaries (e.g., shellfish)” in the environmental assessment form prepared by the planning department, according to the lawsuit.
“Changing zoning is a big deal,” Open Water Enterprises’ Sixto Portilla said. “The town board is supposed to protect those codes and we must hold them accountable.”
In addition to the town itself, the town’s board and its Department of Planning and Environmental Review are named in the lawsuit, which seeks to overturn approval of the zoning overlay.
The town told the publication it does not comment on pending litigation. Huntington Supervisor Ed Smyth previously expressed support for a transit-oriented apartment project in Melville.
The LIOGA promotes the region’s aquaculture industry and represents the interests of shellfish and seaweed growers. Open Water Enterprises “grows oysters and clams and sells them to various markets in Suffolk, Nassau and Queens County,” according to the suit.
The overlay district could spur the creation of up to 1,500 apartments in Melville. Plans for the district also include retail and commercial use. The area covers ground south of the Long Island Expressway and north of Ruland Road, from Walt Whitman Road to Pinelawn Road.
— Holden Walter-Warner
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