By JOSEPH KELLARD
With the demolition of the station's ticket office last month, ground was broken for a project that will involve the construction of a new ticket office designed to comply with Americans with Disabilities Act regulations. Its doors, ticket clerk's counter, and restrooms, will all be handicap accessible, and the building will have a climate control feature, too.
Work on the five Town of Hempstead-owned lots will involve repaving, respiring and reconfiguration to create additional parking spaces. Refurbishment of the first parking lot, located north of the station along Anchor Ave., is expected to begin in October. Two other lots are also expected to be repaved by year's end: one on the east side of Lawson Blvd. between Weidner and Perkins Aves.; the other on the west side of the train tracks, along Royal Ave.
"Work on the last two lots, adjacent to the train station, will depend on variables such as how long it takes to finish the first three lots and weather conditions," said Hempstead Town Councilman Anthony Santino.
The councilman added that the refurbishment of these two lots are also contingent upon the LIRR's completion of the ticket office in its former location between the lots, which he believes will probably be completed by next summer.
"It's going to be an inconvenience as it is, but we hope that most reasonable people will understand that when you repave, it cannot be done over a weekend. It takes a little more time," Santino said.
In addition, new sidewalks (with decorative bricks) and curbs will be installed around the refurbished lots and ticket office, as well as new benches, bike racks, ornamental lights, landscaping and drainage improvements.
The entire project is a joint effort between the Town of Hempstead and the Metropolitan Transit Authority. The cost for the parking lot repavement, sidewalk refurbishment and accompanying upgrades is $1.5 million, and it will come from the Oceanside Public Parking District. The ticket office will cost $698 thousand and will come out of the MTA's five-year capital plan for 2000-04.
Senator Dean Skelos (R-Oceanside), the senate's appointee and only Long Island representative on the four-seat MTA Capital Program Review Board, vetoed the first capital program submitted for review because it failed to contain "enough money" for Long Island, said Tom Dunham, a spokesperson for Skelos.
"Ultimately, they redid the numbers and when they finally approved it, fortunately financing conditions were better and as a result they were able to gain additional resources, an extra billion dollars for Long Island, through refinancing that otherwise wouldn't be available," he said. "Out of that money stations across the island, including Oceanside, are able to be renovated."
Dunham was unable to provide a set date for the completion of the ticket office.
"Once its done the whole area around the Oceanside train station will have a whole new, beautiful look," Santino said. "Along with the beautification project we are doing along Long Beach Rd., this project is just another part of the town's ongoing effort to beautify Oceanside."
