Town Notebook: Law Firm Hired to Fight LIPA Lawsuit, Summer Movies Approved and More

The Huntington Town Board unanimously approved a resolution retaining outside legal counsel to fight the tax certiorari lawsuit.

The board retained the Poughkeepsie-based Lewis & Greer, P.C., at an hourly rate of $185 and Albany-used Industrial & Utility Valuation Consultants Inc., an Albany based consulting fi rm that the town has used for other utility consulting services, at a rate of $250 per hour.

“Both firms are experts when it comes to tax certiorari cases involving utilities and will provide invaluable assistance as the Town vigorously fights this lawsuit,” said Councilman Mark Cuthbertson, who has also asked Town residents to sign an 

Movies on the Lawn . . .and the Beach
The Huntington Town Board approved the dates for the summer outdoor movie series and unanimously approved a resolution authorizing Supervisor Frank Petrone to execute agreements with Swank Motion Pictures, Inc. to rent the movies and Sun Technical Services to for technical services necessary for the showings.

Despicable Me is scheduled for June 27 at Heckscher Park; Flipped is scheduled for July 20 at Crab Meadow beach; Megamind is scheduled for August 1 at Dix Hills Park, and You Again is scheduled for August 24 at

The town will pay no more than $850 to Swank to rent each of the movies and $2,250 to Sun to set up the necessary equipment to view the movie.

Summer Farmer's Market
The farmer’s market in the Elm Street Municipal Lot is scheduled to open May 22. The town board once again authorized the supervisor to execute an agreement with the Long Island Growers Markets for the purpose of allowing it to operate. It will run on Sundays through November 20 from 7 a.m. until noon.  

Efficient Golf Carts
The town board approved a lease agreement with Textron Financial Corporation for 75 motorized and energy efficient golf carts for Crab Meadow and Dix Hills golf courses. The lease will run for four years beginning April 15 at an annual cost of $87,949. The cost is offset by fees charged to the public for the use of the carts.

Zoning Amendment
The  approved an amendment to the zoning code that removed a restriction on where game centers and places of commercial amusement can be located.

The changes will allow the construction of an outdoor miniature golf course, outdoor batting range and indoor sports simulator center on Depot Road between 3rd and 4th Streets in Huntington Station as proposed by local businessman Bard Rosen. Rosen recently detailed his proposal to Town officials, who enthusiastically support it, and he has also received a favorable reaction from community members, the Huntington Economic Development Corp. and the Huntington Station Business Improvement District, of which he is an officer.

The amendment reduced the minimum required distance between a game center and a school, library, church, hospital or other similar use from 200 feet to 2,000 feet.

Amusement centers will still have to obtain a special use permit from the Zoning Board of Appeals.  The town board held a public hearing on the amendment March 8.

The resolution notes that the restriction on where game centers could be located was enacted at a time when video game arcades were the most common type of game centers, and they were associated with undesirable impacts such as school vagrancy.

However, the resolution notes that the widespread availability of home video game systems has made video game arcades obsolete; most game centers and places of amusement today are associated with family or group activity.

"That is just the type of activity we want to encourage in Huntington Station," Supervisor Petrone said.