HUNTINGTON, NY-AvalonBay Communities is one step closer to realizing its proposed Huntington development, Avalon Huntington Station, after the Huntington Town Board approved zoning for the project last night.

The board’s approval--split 4-1, along party lines, with Democrats voting in the affirmative--is another step toward AvalonBay’s proposed construction of 379 multifamily units in Huntington Station. The size of the proposed development has been significantly scaled back to make it more palatable to opponents and to put it in line with existing AvalonBay projects in the area.

“The resolution before the town board last year would have, in the same resolution, created a district and rezoned the property to allow AvalonBay to build,” A.J. Carter, a town spokesman, tells GlobeSt.com. “One of the key differences is that, under the terms of the transit-oriented district, the density could be up to 18.5 units per acre and a lot of people who spoke last year at the public hearing said that they thought that was too dense.” Current plans, he says, call for 14.5 units per acre, a figure that falls within the town’s existing R3M zoning.

Matt Whalen, AvalonBay’s VP for development didn’t return calls in time for publication, but released a prepared statement praising the vote. “We’re naturally very pleased with the town board vote,” the statement reads. “We listened carefully to the community and worked closely with the Town’s representatives to submit a modified development project that would garner the support of the overwhelming majority of residents.”

Some of those residents still oppose the project. The Huntington School Board, which met last night, “issued its opinion of being in opposition to the AvalonBay development, pending meetings with town hall and AvalonBay to go over the financial impact to the school district,” school board president William Dwyer tells GlobeSt.com. Dwyer says the school board hasn’t been included in vetting numbers that AvalonBay provided regarding number of students and projected taxes, in particular.