Long Island’s reputation is that it lags the rest of the New York metropolitan area when it comes to transit-oriented development and smart growth. There may be some truth to this, but enthusiasm for smart growth has been coming from local leaders for years. Newsday yesterday reported on the release of updated plans for the “Lighthouse” mixed-use project that would anchor the Nassau Hub smart growth plan (see also MTR #s 433, 485, 488, and others). Last week voters in Oyster Bay and across Suffolk County voted to create and extend open space acquisition funds, respectively. It’s no surprise, as polls have found that significant numbers of Long Islanders would prefer to live in mixed-use neighborhoods.

One sign of this enthusiasm is the more than 30 elected officials participating in or listed as “Partners & Supporters” of Vision Long Island’s 6th Annual Smart Growth Summit, taking place tomorrow from 8:00 to 3:00 at the Melville Marriott. The event will focus on 50 smart growth projects that should be implemented on Long Island, and will include workshops on transit-oriented development, downtown revitalization, and congestion pricing, among others.

Interested parties may register here. MTR will report more comprehensively on the state of transit-oriented development on Long Island soon.