"Through their support of Sustainable Long Island, Signature Bank has chosen to reinvest in building a more economically stable, environmentally sound region that provides opportunity for all Long Islanders," said Ruth Negron-Gaines, Board President of Sustainable Long Island.

Sustainable Long Island focuses revitalization efforts toward the 50 most distressed communities on Long Island - based on a list compiled by the Suffolk County Planning Department. These communities have the highest levels of poverty, unemployment, and general distress, and Sustainable Long Island assists them to identify priorities for development and develop practical strategies to build safer, stronger, healthier, and more vibrant downtowns.

Nassau County recently named Nelson, Pope, & Voorhis (NPV) as the planning consultant on the Downtown Bethpage Retail Market and Revitalization Analysis. Sustainable Long Island will be joining NPV to assist in community outreach and engage the Bethpage community in a variety of ways, including the use of print, visual and electronic media. Sustainable Long Island will inform Bethpage residents about the revitalization and market study process, asking for their participation and input, announcing interactive open house sessions, and asking for feedback on the draft plan.

Sustainable Long Island recently completed various efforts stemming from a 2010 NYSCA grant award of $8,300. Thanks to NYSCA's generous funding, Sustainable Long Island was able to advance plan implementation, food equity, and brownfields redevelopment across Long Island, including in Greater Bellport (N. Bellport), Roosevelt, Wyandanch, each with high proportions of low-income residents & more than 10% living below the poverty rate, as well as Elmont and Middle Country which struggle with dangerous road conditions and a lack of economic development.

The Elmont Coalition for Sustainable Development (ECSD) has teamed up with Sustainable Long Island to work together and develop a new strategic, creative communications approach for the coalitions, which will help increase awareness of the coalition and help better equip all members with enhanced communication skills.The coalition will focus on its history, key messages and future goals to be better positioned in becoming proactive with communications, promotion, and media, and become educated on how to create, use, and deploy communication resources more effectively. Stay tuned for updates on the new look and feel of ECSD! 

The reality is there are millions of Americans who lack access to fresh, healthy food options with the majority located in communities with limitations in resources, disposable income, language, and transportation options. Supermarkets, and other businesses and services, offering "real food" rather than hyper-processed food tend not to be as readily available to people in low income communities. The result can be an over-dependence on neighborhood convenience stores with limited offerings of fresh food sold, frequently for a high price, leading to myriad health and nutritional and long-term sustainability implications. Customers shopping at corner stores often find retail prices much higher for a selection of food full of canned goods and missing a variety of fresh fruit and vegetables.

(via Newsday) - Protecting Suffolk County's water quality will require aggressive action, but solutions are varied and could be costly, stakeholders said at a state Assembly hearing Tuesday.  

State tax incentives for new septic systems, strict pesticide regulations, greater open space preservation near wells, and a limit on housing density in areas without sewers were among the proposals offered to four assemblymen present.

The cost of keeping high-quality drinking water will rise exponentially if the county does not keep contaminants from entering the groundwater, said James Gaughran, chairman of the Suffolk County Water Authority.

Full article can be found here. 

(via LIBN) - U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer toured the area around the Ronkonkoma Hub on Monday and pledged to pursue federal money for sewers and traffic improvements for the area slated for a major makeover.

Schumer called on the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and U.S. Department of Transportation, through the Federal Partnership for Sustainable Communities, to meet with and help identify federal funding sources to help secure money for three key pieces of the neighborhood's revitalization: sewer infrastructure, roundabout construction at the LIRR station, and rehabilitation of existing, blighted properties around the train station.

Schumer made the case that public investment in infrastructure and federal recognition for the project will provide an added incentive for developers to invest private capital in this massive economic development project.

Read the full article at LIBN.com 

(via Newsday) - Freeport officials and developers have outlined a raft of major developments planned in the village in the coming months, including a Target store, a museum, a revitalized shopping plaza and a new insurance company.

Among the most significant projects, officials said the Long Island Museum of Science and Natural History is slated to open in late spring on the former site of the Woodcleft Avenue annex of Manhattan's South Street Seaport Museum.

Additional developments include the opening of a Target store containing a Starbucks in 2013 on Sunrise Highway, close to Meadowbrook Parkway.

Target is expected to invest $30 million and create more than 200 jobs, he said.

Meanwhile, there are plans to fill the 35,000-square-foot retail center at West Sunrise Highway and South Long Beach Avenue. Construction is planned for early spring to improve the building's facade and fix the center's sidewalks and driveways. The project anticipates bringing in new businesses to fill 14,000 square feet of vacant space, including a supermarket.

Read the full article at Newsday.com 

(via Newsday) - Construction of a $59 million housing and retail project at the former United Artists movie theater in Coram could begin as early as next year.

Officials said the project would eliminate a blight that has attracted vandals, arsonists and homeless squatters since 2004, when the theater closed. It would provide 160 apartments with rents starting about $1,173, almost 50,000 square feet of retail and alleviate congestion with a new connector between Middle Country Road and Route 112.

The project is one of the first to be included in Brookhaven's Blight to Light program; Supervisor Mark Lesko's initiative that identifies dilapidated properties and encourages redevelopment with reduced fees and accelerated approvals.

Full article can be found here.

The Suffolk County Planning Federation invites you to attend its annual training conference to be held at the Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton on Wednesday October 12 from 3:00 - 9:40pm. A selection of ten courses will be offered ranging from Planning & Zoning Case Law to Food System Planning.