Valley Stream awarded annual streetscape grant

A $160,000 grant from Nassau County will allow the village to finish its streetscaping project on North Central Avenue, which will include new sidewalks and street lamps.

Valley Stream has been receiving the federal Community Development Block Grant money for about 15 years, said Vinny Ang, research assistant to the Board of Trustees. The money is administered by Nassau County, which reviews requests from the various villages, town and cities.

“The county, even in difficult fiscal times, has managed to support the village with this funding,” Ang said.

According to Ang, past money has been used for similar streetscaping projects on Rockaway Avenue — Valley Stream’s downtown — and in Gibson near the traffic circle. Over the last few years, streetscaping has taken place on Central Avenue, beginning at Merrick Road and moving north. Ang said a few blocks still have to be completed from Raisig Avenue to the village line.

That work should take place over the summer. Ang said the Town of Hempstead will also provide some funding to complete streetscaping in front of a row of stores on Central Avenue, just north of Hendrickson Avenue. Ang said that the boundary between the town and village runs through the shopping center, but it wouldn’t look right to stop the work mid-block.

Ang said that he has gotten a lot of compliments from business owners and residents about the work that has been done in the past. He said people particularly like the decorative street lamps.

“The Community Development Block Grant program has long provided funding for projects that improve the quality of life for thousands of Nassau County residents,” said County Executive Ed Mangano. “These funds will greatly assist the Village of Valley Stream in their efforts to enhance local businesses, spur job creation and improve infrastructure. It’s a great day when Nassau County can utilize federal funds to truly help revitalize our local neighborhoods.”

According to Mangano, $10,000 of the grant money will be earmarked for residential home rehabilitation. The village could allocate this money, as needed, to low-income homeowners for new windows and doors, roof repairs or ramp installation.

Ang said that the village has used this money in the past to help eligible residents, primarily seniors on fixed incomes, to upgrade their homes. “It has to be essential, necessary repairs,” he said.

The village is seeking other grant opportunities, as well. According to Barbara DeGrace, an assistant to the Board of Trustees, Valley Stream is looking for funding to renovate the building they are planning to acquire at 195 Rockaway Ave. She said they are looking for historic preservation funds to turn the first floor back into a courtroom. The building used to be the Village Hall and courthouse from the early 1940s until the present facility opened in 1955.

Additionally, the village is looking for money to fund a design guide for the Rockaway Avenue. It would include guidelines for signage, landscaping and aesthetics for every building in the downtown business district.

Several years ago, the village received a $65,000 grant from then-Assemblyman Bob Barra, now the village clerk, to create a master plan. The company that created the master plan, Frederick P. Clarke Associates, would also create the design guideline. “It would be the last piece of the master plan,” DeGrace said.