A long road

This agreement, which took more than a year to finalize, provides county community reinvestment project funding to the district to construct the road.”

Steve Rhoads Nassau County Legislator

As an active member of the Seaford Harbor Elementary School PTA, Melanie Schnaier, of Wantagh, advocated for the construction of an emergency access road to the grounds for years. After all, she explained, she “lived that emergency” while trying to pick up her daughter, Rachel, from a Girl Scout program held in the building. 

“I was at one end of Bayview and there was an electrical fire over the road, so I couldn’t drive on it,” Schnaier said. “The only way to get out of that area was to sail away on a boat. I was a proponent of getting the road built to avoid this kind of situation.” 

Schnaier called the construction of an access road a town dream — one that Seaford School District and Nassau County leaders are officially bringing to life this spring. The Board of Education unanimously voted to award the construction of a 310-foot roadway to Mt. Olympos Restoration, Inc. of Elmont for $633,000. After decades of concern and community advocacy to win approval of and funding for the work, school officials said that the two-month project would begin in April. 

“The entire school board and administration are excited that after 53 years of talk of a Harbor road that we are finally going to make this much-needed emergency access road a reality,” Board President Bruce Kahn said. “I wish to thank all our community members and local officials whom over the years have not given up hope on this project.”

The 53-year-old school currently has one road as a means of entry and exit. District officials said this has caused mounting concern by Seaford and Wantagh residents as traffic conditions — especially during morning and afternoon drop-off and pick-up times — intensified over the years. 

Nassau County Legislator Steve Rhoads, of Bellmore, who grew up in Wantagh, said that the lack of an alternate access route in case of emergency has been a widely known source of concern in the community for years. As a member of the Wantagh Fire Department — which serves the southernmost section of Seaford — Rhoads said that he spoke with Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano about the personal experiences he and his fellow volunteers had trying to get to the school during emergencies.

“I know that the fire department has had trouble getting vehicles in there, so I was acutely aware of the need,” he said. “We have known that this has been a problem for 50 some odd years, and for 50 some odd years the community has been trying to get it done. Their voices simply could not be ignored and should not be ignored.”

A number of factors delayed the project, Seaford Superintendent Brian Conboy noted. Originally, the land on which the road is being built — running from Bayview Street just east of the school to Cedar Street, which turns into Iona Street — was owned by the State Department of Transportation. Nassau County acquired the parcel to aid the community’s cause, Conboy said. 

In the past, district leaders tried to purchase the land and fund the build in house, but Conboy said “the economic climate at that time was not favorable and the voters rejected that proposal.” But county leaders began negotiating an intermunicipal agreement to fund and plan construction of the road in 2014, after meeting with local elected and school leaders; reading a petition with 700 signatures, submitted by Rita Matalone, of Friends of Wantagh and Seaford; and sending representatives to the site. The agreement, which took more than a year to finalize, provides county community reinvestment project funding to the district to construct the road, Rhoads said. The construction plan had to meet state and county building requirements before it could go out to bid. It needed to be specific because the area was determined to be wetlands, Conboy said. 

Peter Cavassa, the Seaford School District’s director of facilities and operations, is managing the project. He said that no area of the school grounds should be closed during the construction, and the surrounding area should only be minimally affected  Seaford residents might hear the sound of the machinery that will clear the land and pave the road, he explained. 

Conboy said that construction company will make every effort to keep additional disruption to a minimum. Completing the project during the summer months may be one viable option to meet this goal, he noted. 

District officials said that the road is expected to be gated at both ends, but would be opened to alleviate traffic and provide an emergency exit when necessary.

“The most important thing residents should know is that once the roadway is complete, it will ameliorate the difficult traffic flow that has plagued this building on school days for decades,” Conboy said. “The result will be a much easier accessibility and a much safer environment for students, staff and visitors. As someone who has been part of this district for almost as long as the Seaford Harbor School has been in existence, I am beyond words in describing the feeling of finally getting the wheels moving on this roadway.”

Schnaier also said that the happiness she and her neighbors will feel on groundbreaking day  is indescribable. As a parent who is known for photographing community events, she said she anticipates taking many pictures of joyful and relieved faces in front of Harbor School in April. 

“This process has been a long road — literally … [The] safety of our children will make it all worthwhile,” she said.