HUNTINGTON, NY-AvalonBay Communities has submitted a scaled-down version of its plan to build multifamily housing here. The previous proposal for Avalon Huntington Station, which was voted down by the Town Board this past September, included a transit-oriented development component that's not in the downsized version. Town supervisor Frank Petrone did not respond by deadline to GlobeSt.com's requests for comment.

"The new, downsized development will have 111 fewer units and 176 fewer bedrooms than the TOD proposal," Matt Whalen, VP for development at AvalonBay, says in a release. "This is a significant reduction which changed dramatically the economics of the transaction." He adds that the density, total number of units and number of affordable housing units all are in conformance with existing zoning for the site.

Whalen says the only reason that the scaled-back project is economically feasible is that the current owners of the land, the Bonavita family, have agreed to accept less money. “The family's willingness to renegotiate the property price was the key to putting this deal together,” he says. “Without this concession, there simply would not be a second submission by AvalonBay.”

The revised proposal wouldn’t provide the financial resources to fund a public benefits package “at the level of the package associated with the TOD project,” says Whalen. “It was, after all, the TOD's higher density that paid for the previous public benefits package.”

Yet he says the revised plan’s economic benefits will be “significant,” and include job creation, economic revitalization “and the development of much-needed housing—both market rate and affordable. I think we can all agree that right now Long Island needs jobs, and this proposal will do just that.”

Of the 379 units, down from the original 490, 80% will be rentals and 20% will be for-sale homes. Fifty-four units will be designated as workforce housing.

The scaled down development is expected to result in a total of 65 to 78 additional school-aged children, according to AvalonBay. The developer estimates the net cost to the school district—i.e. tax revenue generated by the new development minus the cost of educating the expected new students—will result in an annual surplus ranging from $2,067 to $307,255. That compares to a $1,676,987 net annual cost to the school district for the estimated 128 new students who would live in 109 single-family homes, says Avalon Bay.

The new submission came as the result of an invitation from members of the Town Board, GlobeSt.com reported last month. “Although we are not na