The Seaford School District is planning a letter-writing campaign with area lawmakers to try and obtain government funds for a long-planned emergency access road project at the Seaford Harbor School property.
Seaford Board of Education President Brian Fagan and Superintendent Brian Conboy said during Thursday night's school board meeting that they would draft a letter to be signed by the district as well as other community groups that will be sent to elected officials on a federal and local level. The letter will explain the dire need Seaford is in for the long-stalled emergency access and the particular importance of the project in wake of Superstorm Sandy. A referendum for the estimated $596,719 access road project, which would have be paid for by leftover funds from a capital improvements proposition approved in December 2007, failed by 238 votes in May 2010.
"What we just went through with the storm makes it all the more clear that this has to happen," said Conboy, who emphasized at Thursday's meeting that the district would not like to see residents' school taxes have to be utilized for the project if possible and is hopeful that federal and local funds will be made available for it. "It wouldn't only benefit the school district, it would benefit the whole Seaford Harbor community having another way out."
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An access road at the Seaford Harbor School, which would connect Bayview Street with Ionia Street through approximately 320 feet of open land just north of the school, has been in the works going back more than four decades. Parents have expressed concerns that it is challenging to get near the school during pick up and drop off periods since traffic is typically backed up down the block, with both buses and cars unable to move because of the high congestion level on the tiny road.
Nassau County is paving the way for the new access road by providing a little over an acre of land surrounding the property. The board of education accepted the findings of a State Environmental Review Act in February 2011 related to the project and at Thursday's meeting approved a contract with Hauppauge-based VHB Engineering to provide updated environmental permitting for a required Army Corps. of Engineers report.
Fagan said the timetable of when a potential new refernedum vote on the emergency access road project would take place has not been determined.
