Politics & Government

Islip's Planning And Development Commissioner Retires

After 35 years at town hall Gene Murphy calls it a career.

For 35 years Gene Murphy has been a fixture at Islip Town Hall and his fingerprints are on every community in the township.

But the commissioner of the town's Department of Planning and Development is now embarking on his retirement, stepping away from the position he has held since 2002.

Noting there were several factors in his decision to retire, which included an incentive program offered by the town, Murphy was quick to add that the "high quality staff" currently working in the planning department was the biggest factor in his decision.

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"This really allows me to leave (the town) in good conscience otherwise I would not think of leaving this early," he said.

Among the planning department personnel Murphy leaves behind with confidence is Dave Genaway, Murphy's longtime deputy who will be his successor.

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"He's been involved in every aspect of planning and building in Islip Town since 1997," Murphy said of Genaway, "and has developed the town's geographic information system that other municipalities have paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to outside consultants to do."

Murphy's time at Islip Town Hall started back in the mid-1970s just months before he was to head off to Nicaragua as part of the Peace Corps.

"There was a major earthquake there in 1972 and my assignment was to help with the rebuilding effort," he recalled. "But Mike LoGrande (then Islip Town's planning commissioner) talked to me about coming to work for the town, which I did."

The job offered by LoGrande was attractive to Murphy, who at the time was working for Suffolk County.

"I always had an interest in city planning as a kid and I'm also a big baseball fan and at one point made scale models of all 16 major league ballparks that existed at that time," he said. "And in my spare time I would look at bus and subway maps to see where certain routes could be extended."

Upon graduating from Bishop Reilly High School in New York, Murphy would earn a bachelor's degree from the City College of New York and a master's in planning from Virginia Tech.

Although Murphy has been involved in numerous projects during this tenure with the planning department, the project he is most proud of is the Central Islip Planning Development District.

"This was a project where many different planning commissioners were involved in over several years and something that took a tremendous amount of work," he said. "It could have been a missed opportunity but we got the work done and the town board had the guts to move ahead with the plan."

Located along Carleton Avenue just north of Southern State Parkway, that hamlet's Planning Development District today includes Touro Law School and the Central Islip Town Center retail area home to The Home Depot and Target along with several smaller stores.

When looking at other hamlets across the town, Murphy is also confident that downtown areas such as those in Sayville, Islip, Bay Shore among others will continue to prosper as long as civic groups and town officials continue to form strong partnerships.

"I think going back as far as the bi-centennial, we've had a generation of people who appreciate what they have locally. As a result, we had a 1,000 flowers bloom in the form of civic associations," Murphy said.

"It's always been our mindset (in town hall) not to have an adversarial relationship with business and communities, but work with them and help them secure grants for things like development and municipal parking," he added. "And once the work is done, it is critical to have strong code enforcement to ensure things are kept up to town code."

As he looks ahead to his retirement, Murphy said he will be able to enjoy the best of both worlds. He will serve as a consultant with the town's planning department two days a week and also be able to enjoy leisure activities including reading, volunteering at St. Mary's church in East Islip and utilizing the new kayak given to him as a retirement gift by his former co-workers at town hall.

"I've been doing kayaking for a number of years," he said, "and it's something I look forward to doing more of now."


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