By:Jennifer Marino
Rockville Centre is exploring swapping the maintenance of its sewer system for the maintenance of some county roads. Suozzi hopes to transfer many county roads to local governments in exchange for benefits such as the sewer maintenance as well as park land and policing.
The press conference included Rockville Centre Mayor Eugene Murray and Lynbrook Mayor Eugene Scarpato, who is the director of intergovernmental relations for the county. Scarpato helps negotiate with local governments to bring about these transfers. It-s a winner, he said of Suozzi-s plan.
The intersection of Rockaway and Windsor is representative of the sometimes confusing ownership of roads. Rockaway Avenue is a county road, Windsor Place north of Rockaway is maintained by Rockville Centre, and south of Rockaway it is a town road. Suozzi even joked that the Rockville Centre police officer helping to direct traffic on Rockaway was out of his jurisdiction.
North Hempstead Supervisor Jon Kaiman noted that street sweepers and plows often go down streets out of their jurisdiction in order to get around the block and have to lift their plows and brushes. Switching the road maintenance to local governments would save the county money. Kaiman said that in the big picture it equals out, because residents are either paying for road maintenance in county taxes or village taxes.
A land transfer with the Town of Oyster Bay that took place on April 26 would be the model for future transfers. Oyster Bay assumed almost 10 miles of roadway maintenance from the county, and in turn the county sold several acres of land to the town to be turned into ballfields.
For now, Rockville Centre is simply talking about the potential of swapping sewer maintenance for road maintenance, said Mayor Murray. The village engineers are looking into its feasibility, and the village is investigating costs. The cost of re-building roads, which can be as high as $1 million a mile, has to be considered, Murray said. Over a year ago, the sewer pipes under Merrick Road underwent major repairs. The sewers used to suffer many backups, said Murray, and workers have even found bowling balls causing clogs.
The county-owned roads in Rockville Centre include Hempstead Avenue, Long Beach Road, Merrick Road, Oceanside Road, Lincoln Avenue, Lakeview Avenue and DeMott Avenue. The county also owns parts of roads including Park Avenue south of Sunrise Highway, Village Avenue north of Lincoln Avenue, and Rockaway Avenue south of Park Avenue. While the county would like to transfer many of the roads it owns, it will keep main thoroughfares like Old Country Road.
