By Arlene Gross 

 02/07/2008 | 02:42 PM

 The Town Board voted 4 to 1 on Tuesday night to extend the two-year-old construction moratorium on private golf course properties within Huntington's boundaries. The town will not issue any approvals and permits on such properties for at least another six months.

 "Anybody can sell the land to anybody," Councilman Stuart Besen said, "but they can't build on it. The purpose is to preserve the golf courses and open space."

 He said the legislation was extended to bide time until the town board comes up with a uniform zoning standard for privately owned golf courses, many of which are zoned as residential. "Obviously, they're not residential," Besen said.

 The board is concerned with the possible consequences of inconsistent zoning, he added. "If you don't have a clarification for golf courses, the people who own the courses can sell off the land. What we're trying to do is come up with a fair and reasonable zoning classification, specifically for golf courses. Until we come up with the classification, we're telling owners of golf courses, you can't build on it."

 There are exemptions. Necessary repairs can be made to clubhouses, for example.

 Many municipalities throughout the country have also been wrestling with zoning classifications for their privately held golf courses, according to Besen.

 "As golf became more popular and the price of land has gone up so dramatically, there had to be a zoning classification for golf courses," he said.

 To help form their decision, Besen said, the board is studying what has been done in other municipalities.

 Affected by the moratorium are the Huntington Crescent Club and the Huntington Country Club, both in Huntington; Indian Hills Country Club; Cold Spring Country Club in Cold Spring Hills; The Hamlet Golf and Country Club in Commack; and The Greens at Half Hollow in Melville.

 Councilwoman Susan Berland voted against the resolution, noting her objection to the moratorium's omission of a golf course on Ryder Avenue in Dix Hills, which is her home base.

 "I'm not in favor of this moratorium because they took Ryder Avenue out," she said. "I can't vote to support it in the format that it's in, without Ryder Avenue."

 This is the fifth time that the moratorium has been extended. Originally adopted in February 2006, the moratorium has been renewed every six months because the golf course classification will be included in the town's Comprehensive Master Plan, which is expected to be completed some time this year, Besen said.

 "We hired a company which works on master plans, which will lay out the future and goals of the town of Huntington," he said. "It's a roadmap of where the public would like to see the town of Huntington move to."

 To help develop the plan, town officials conducted "scoping sessions" in which public input was invited.

 The feedback from those sessions was put into a preliminary report.