A traffic study commissioned by the Mineola School District has concluded that the proposed lease of the Cross Street School to the Solomon Schechter School of Glen Cove will not increase traffic around the school or overall traffic in the area surrounding the school.
The study, written by Robert Eschbacher, principal of VHB Engineering in Hauppauge, said the 36 school buses transporting most of the 250 students who would be attending the Schechter School Day School will not exceed the number of vehicles picking up and dropping off elementary school students now. The 36 buses will consist of one full size bus, 27 mini-buses and eight vans.
The study was posted on the Mineola School District Web site last Friday as Mineola voters got ready to go to the polls to vote on the district’s 2011-2012 school budget and two board seats. The lease of the school, which is part of a district-wide reconfiguration, became the focus of the school board election campaign which pits two incumbent trustees again two challengers. In a Village of Williston Park meeting several weeks, residents also expressed safety and traffic concerns, along with concerns about the use of the school’s ball fields.
VHB engineers said that on a typical day at the Cross Street School four buses and 50 cars dropped students off in the morning, and four buses and 42 cars transporting students leaving in the afternoon.
“Thus, the number of vehicles expected to serve SSDS will be no greater than the number of vehicles currently serving the serving the existing Cross Street School and there will not be any significant change to overall traffic in the immediate area,” the report said.
A presentation on the traffic study will be made at the Mineola School Board regularly scheduled meeting on Thursday, when the board may vote on the Cross Street lease.
The report said that since bus arrivals for morning drop-offs at the Schechter School would be more spread out, there would be no “surge” of buses going from Cross Street onto Hillside Avenue. That, the report said, would help the school avoid a conflict with St. Aidan School, which is located on Willis Avenue in Williston Park near the Cross Street School.
The report further states that, based on plans to expand the Cross Street parking lot, there will be room for 26 buses to park in the lot to load students in the afternoon. It notes that if all 36 buses departed simultaneously, there would be delays affecting traffic in the area, but VHB concludes its report with several recommendations on this point, and others.
The consultants recommended that Solomon Schechter and St. Aidan should stagger their starting and stopping times by about 20 minutes to minimize the impact on traffic. The report also recommended that the departure of buses in the afternoon from the Schechter School be staggered over 10 minutes. It also suggested that the Schechter School should designate off-site parking areas for its students who drive and enforce policies to prevent them from parking on village streets.
The study further recommended that the Mineola School District monitor the traffic and parking during the first week of school to make “necessary operational adjustments” and that the No Parking zone on Cross Street be extended slightly to provide more curb side space for the afternoon buses.
The traffic study, and the larger issue of the future of the Cross Street School, were the primary topics at Monday night’s Williston Park Board meeting.
Village attorney James Bradley said Wayne Mueller of RMS, the traffic engineer the village retained to review the VHB traffic study, has read the report but hasn’t yet rendered an official opinion on it.
Although the Williston board recommended VHB to the Mineola School Board, Village of Williston Park Mayor Paul Ehrbar said the board thought it was in the village’s interests to retain its own traffic expert.
Bob Mitchell, president of the Williston Park Civic Association, said buses turning left from Cross Street onto Hillside Avenue will cause a problem when they have to stop at the Long Island Railroad crossing.
“These are bigger vehicles,” Mitchell said.
Terrence Kennedy, a leader of the grassroots Cross Street Alliance, called for a referendum among Williston Park residents to determine interest in purchasing Cross Street School and turning it into a community center.
Bradley said that would be an “advisory referendum,” which he said state law does not permit.
Ehrbar repeated his prior public assertion that the village lacks financial means to develop a community center.
“I don’t think this village is ready to take over the Cross Street School at this time,” he said.
Reflecting resident concerns about little league and CYO teams losing access to the fields, Kennedy also asked if the village could purchase the ball fields,
“We’re told the property is not for sale,” Ehrbar answered.
Ehrbar, a member of the Herricks School Board, said he was confident that access to Herricks ball fields could be arranged.
Crista Mills, another Cross Street Alliance activist, asked whether the village board considered intervening to discourage the Mineola School Board from consummating the Schechter lease.
Bradley said he didn’t think the village should intercede, and added that the school district could still rule on ball field use.
“I have been told that the Mineola School District may retain control of the fields,” Bradley said.
Efforts to reach Mineola Superintendent of Schools Michael Nagler were unavailing.
When someone asked whether the village could declare “eminent domain” over the ball fields, Bradley said he doubted it.
“If they’re using the fields for public use, I don’t think the village could exercise eminent domain,” Bradley said.
That followed comments Bradley made earlier about another domain issue: on the village’s rights to review Solomon Schechter;s site plan.
Nagler has said the village doesn’t have the right to review Solomon Schechter’s site plan.
Bradley said the lease to a private entity changes the school district’s jurisdiction over the property. He also said the village is unsure if the proposed lease of the school includes the ball fields.
“That throws a wrinkle into it because we’re not sure if the private entity is leasing all of the property,” Bradley said.
