Huntington, Smithtown supervisor primary wins hit home

Daily Point

Ed Smyth, Ed Wehrheim victories seen opening doors to development

After incumbents Ed Smyth in Huntington and Ed Wehrheim in Smithtown each won their GOP primaries Tuesday night, housing advocates declared victory, saying the wins represented a path forward for development and the creation of the housing Long Island needs.

Challengers Brooke Lupinacci in Huntington and Rob Trotta in Smithtown had each campaigned against what they called "overdevelopment," criticizing the incumbents for measures to change zoning or approve new housing in the towns.

Lupinacci focused her efforts on Melville, where Smyth had spearheaded an overlay zone to bring mixed-use development to the Huntington Quadrangle area. Trotta drilled down on development in Kings Park, specifically highlighting a proposal for a 46-unit apartment complex near the Long Island Rail Road station.

A look at individual election districts shows that some voters in neighborhoods in Melville and Kings Park leaned toward the challengers, but with low turnout the differences were often small. In Huntington, Lupinacci narrowly won pieces of the Half Hollow Hills school district and the Melville area, but in many cases, her leads weren’t even in the double digits, so they didn’t make a dent town-wide. Trotta won Smithtown’s ED 3 in Kings Park by 20 votes, 65 to 45. But on the flip side, Wehrheim won other parts of the area, including ED 38, which the supervisor took 78 to 57.

"I think at the end of the day the majority of the voters throughout the township saw through the noise," Wehrheim spokeswoman Nicole Garguilo told The Point Wednesday. "I think for the folks that didn’t, we’re going to spend some time talking with them during the general election and beyond. At the end of the day the voters really did respond to the facts and the tangible results they can see throughout the township."

Part of the pro-housing messaging came from outside groups, including the Long Island Builders Institute, which tried to push a pro-economic growth message.

"This was our first foray into taking a more aggressive approach to changing the narrative of the way development is discussed and debated on Long Island," LIBI chief executive Michael Florio told The Point. "It shows that the broader economic development and real estate community needs to be more engaged on these issues and help educate and promote the benefits of development on Long Island."

Florio said the wins also should spur Smyth and Wehrheim to continue the development-related efforts they had started.

"It validates the work they’ve done to date," Florio said. "From what we had heard, this is a referendum on the future of Long Island that was being put in front of voters here, and defeat of either of these two candidates really would have set us back a long ways."

LIBOR vice president of government and political affairs Marlo Paventi, who worked on a $150,000-plus campaign through the New York State Association of Realtors Fund, emphasized that Smyth’s win spotlighted an "effective" decision-making strategy on new housing construction.

"This outcome highlights the importance of local leadership in advancing thoughtful, bipartisan solutions to Long Island’s housing challenges," Paventi said.

And it wasn’t just outside groups that welcomed the GOP incumbents’ win. Gordon Tepper, a spokesman for Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul, told The Point that the victories were also signals of success for Hochul’s more recent efforts to give local communities incentives for pro-housing moves.

"Her approach of supporting communities with funding, flexibility and incentives is delivering real results, and the election outcomes in both Huntington and Smithtown show that voters are responding," Tepper said. "Efforts to scare people into rejecting progress are falling flat." 

— Randi F. Marshall randi.marshall@newsday.com

Pencil Point

Hot air

For more cartoons, visit www.newsday.com/junenationalcartoons

Final Point

Will Manorhaven Village election have a HALT-ing result?

The latest Long Island development saga may reach a climax Wednesday night.

Manorhaven Village in Nassau County, home to just under 7,000 residents on the North Shore, has scheduled a final vote on the contentious 30 Sagamore Hill mixed-use development project that includes 49 apartments and 868 square feet of commercial space.

To protest the project, along with several others in the village, an online petition called for residents in the June 17 uncontested trustee election to add an unusual write-in candidate — "HALT."

The change.org petition states that since the incumbents, who ran unopposed, "will win regardless of your vote, use your vote for something that matters! Write-in ‘HALT.’ "

The idea, one supporter said, was to send a message to village officials that residents want a moratorium so there can be a comprehensive assessment of all the multiple development projects planned or under construction.

"The idea was to put ‘HALT’ on the ballot in support of halting the tremendous building projects in the pipeline, completed or ongoing on Manhasset Isle," Christian Hommerich, 52, of Manhasset Isle, told The Point. "We are not against development, period. The buildings are very unsightly. What we are against is not doing it smartly and responsibly."

The election featured uncontested seats, so turnout was predictably lower than usual. Incumbent trustees Khristine Shahipour and Jeffrey Stone were reelected with 45 and 40 votes each, respectively, as was Justice William Bodkin with 34 votes.

Stone told The Point "about 40” ballots had "HALT" as the write-in vote. Village officials did not return calls for the election results.

Stone said residents have for years been concerned about development within the 384 acres comprising the village, with 30 Sagamore Hill being the latest project to raise eyebrows.

"It’s definitely a hot potato," Stone told The Point. "And we are treating it as such."

Stone, a real estate agent, said he was encouraged by the "HALT" petition as a form of civic engagement, even if, as he said, some residents have questioned whether he will profit from the projects. "I like the fact that people are mobilizing, getting out there," Stone said. "This could be the beginning of something that’s good."

Hommerich told The Point he thinks the village will approve 30 Sagamore Hill Wednesday night instead of opting for more input from residents and experts. He said a public forum held June 19 drew dozens of residents opposed to the project.

"Personally, I feel like it’s a done deal," Hommerich said. "On the other hand, from a commonsense point of view, I can’t possibly think they will all vote for this when you heard feedback [at the public forum]. How could they vote against everything that was said?"

— Mark Nolan mark.nolan@newsday.com

Subscribe to The Point here and browse past editions of The Point here.