Huntington Board Approves Code Changes Aimed At Affordability

HUNTINGTON, NY — Living in the town of Huntington just got more affordable for anyone who owns accessory apartments, secondary suites or granny flats at their primary home. At its July 16 meeting, the town board approved multiple code changes aimed at making living in Huntington more affordable without having to build new homes, officials said in a news release.

One of the major changes allows property owners to live in the accessory apartment at their primary home. The change will help ease cost of living for many residents by allowing them to rent the main living space.

The code changes also reduced lot size limit requirements from 7,500 square feet to 5,000 square feet and reduced the lot frontage requirement for an accessory apartment from 75 linear feet to 50 linear feet.

The changes make it so more property owners qualify for an accessory apartment on their property. An accessory dwelling unit is defined by planning.org as, "a smaller, independent residential dwelling unit located on the same lot as a stand alone single-family home."

The changes in accessory apartment code was co-sponsored by Supervisor Chad Lupinacci and Councilwoman Joan Cergol.

"These measures are good for property rights, families just starting out and those on fixed incomes; it opens up the affordable apartment rental supply," said Lupinacci. "In order to keep generations together on Long Island, the availability of affordable housing and the ability to live affordably are key."

"The accessory apartment amendments are a win/win/win as they will make it possible for our older residents to age in place, allowing our younger residents to attain the dream of homeownership, all while giving the Town a means by which to directly regulate, in many cases, previously illegal rental houses," said Cergol.