Awards honor Smart Growth progress on Long Island

Since 2002, Vision Long Island has been honoring the people, projects, policies, and places that have taken the greatest steps to achieving Smart Growth progress in our region we have seen a major market shift that has resulted in a preference for more compact, walkable, communities. These places include a range of housing types, are focused around transit, promote infill design rather than building on open space, and embody clean energy technologies. These Smart Growth components combine to create great places where people want to live, work, and play and this year we feature a strong group of honorees. The market shift in favor of Smart Growth is clear, as this group was chosen from nearly 45 applications. This year's honorees include lieutenant governor Robert Duffy for chairing the NYS Regional Economic Development Councils, which have funded Smart Growth projects such as Wyandanch Rising and Hempstead Village sewers among others; Dolores Thompson of the Huntington Station Enrichment Center, who has worked for decades to revitalize Huntington Station and provide meaningful programs for her community; and David Schieren of EmPower Solar for clean energy leadership in a variety of projects throughout Long Island. Many of our honorees are projects that directly improve the built environment, including: Metro 303, a 166-unit, rental housing development in Hempstead Village by Mill Creek Residential Trust; The River Walk, a 163-unit, owner-occupied townhouse development in the Village of Patchogue by GRB Development; Water Mill Station by Koral Brothers, which builds compact office space in the hamlet of Water Mill; The Paramount in Huntington, a bold new downtown theater that seats over 1,500 and draws major national acts while revitalizing Huntington Village; and Bartone Plaza, a hotel and mixed-use project in the Village of Farmingdale by Bartone Properties and BWC Realty Partners. Finally, we honor major achievements in government and legislation that will go a long way to incentivizing Smart Growth projects. These include NYS senator Charles Fuschillo and community activist Sandi Vega for their work to pass the NYS Complete Streets law to make roads safer for all users; Jean Celender, mayor of the Village of Great Neck Plaza, for a transit-oriented development zoning code that will allow for additional housing to be built within a walkable, transit-centered downtown; and The Elmont Mixed-Use Zoning District in the town of Hempstead, which will create design guidelines and allow for more Smart Growth-friendly development to advance. The 11th annual Smart Growth Awards will take place on Friday, June 15th from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Huntington Hilton. For more information on the event, visit www.visionlongisland.org. Eric Alexander is the executive director at Vision LI, Northport, N.Y.