By JOSEPH KELLARD
With the third phase of the Town of Hempstead's streetscape beautification project on the east side between Davison Avenue and Homecrest Court half complete, Greg Becker, first deputy commissioner of planning and economic development, said plans to redo the opposite side of this stretch of Long Beach Road have been shelved.
The first two phases of the streetscape extend along both sides of Oceanside's main thoroughfare between Atlantic and Davison -- featuring new curbs, red-brick sidewalks, ornamental lamposts and benches -- and some stores on the east side received facade renovations. But changes to federal Housing and Urban Development (HUD) guidelines released this year render a fourth phase, northwest of Davison, improbable.
"Unlike the former maps we used during the 1990s, the new federal maps, which go virtually block by block, based on the 2000 census, do not permit us to do the opposite side of the street," Becker said.
The census is tied into a sampling of incomes, and if a geographical area goes beyond a low-to-moderate income cap, it becomes ineligible for funding for a Community Development Block Grant, Becker explained.
"Every 10 years, all the formulas at the federal level change for funding," Becker continued. "But to continue this process, we are requesting opinions from our planners who deal with these issues to see if we can present to HUD a request for a waiver so that we may do the west side of the street."
Moreover, Becker said that for these census-related reasons, the town has no plans for streetscape or facade renovations north of Homecrest. The appearance of this section of town, which includes the Oceanside Motel and the vacant Edwards supermarket, has been the target of residents' complaints, particularly at town hall meetings hosted by Councilman Anthony Santino in recent years.
During Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi's bus tour through Oceanside last month, as part of his county-wide economic and development plan, Legislator Jeff Toback talked about the possibility of making the former Edwards the new home for the Oceanside Post Office, whose current facility, he told Suozzi, is "10 times too small."
"In a way, the sampling process is subjective, because they don't look at all the incomes," Becker explained. "The block that is not eligible may not have even had a sampling, and HUD just determines by surrouding incomes, say north and adjacent to [the current streetscape renovations], that it's not eligible."
Meanwhile, the next phase of facade renovations includes Vanilla's Funeral Home and the brick building at the corner of Davison and Long Beach Road. Facade work for stores along the third phase will begin once the streetscape work is finished in four to six weeks, and is expected to take two to three months to complete, weather permitting, Becker said.
"That section of streetscape and facade work is estimated to cost about $900,000," Becker said, indicating that businesses likely to undergo the renovations -- including Topaz Florist, Don Jay Auto, Johnny Russels restaurant and the Seiffert office building -- will finance half of the work on their storefronts.
Police booth: The newest patrol car site
As the town works toward completing the third streetscape phase, Nassau County is preparing to have a police booth installed in the town parking lot between Davison and Merle avenues, behind Walgreen's.
"They are working on it right now," Nassau County Legislator Jeff Toback told the Herald last week. "The actual construction began this past Monday, and it should be done within the next three weeks or so."
The new 10-by-12-foot booth will be installed on the island between the entrances to the parking lot on Davison Avenue, across from the Oceanside Library.
The county decided to move the booth to this area from the triangle at Long Beach Road, Davison and Lincoln Avenues after an errant driver destroyed it in May 2001.
The triangle: Still waiting on three sides
Meanwhile, the reconstruction of the triangle, where work was originally expected to commence last summer and then this past spring, is still pending.
"The Oceanside Chamber of Commerce has undertaken to design what's going there, and we are waiting for them to submit the engineering plans," Toback said when asked about the extended holdup.
Dove Hadas, an architect designing the engineering plans for the triangle, told the Herald, "I've been pressed with time, but I'm trying to finish these drawings any day now so that I can submit them to the town. I know everybody has been anticipating this, including myself. I should be finished with them in about a week."
The new triangle will sport a nautical theme, including a 20-foot lighthouse supported by a four-foot concrete and stone base, a fishing boat that will serve as a planter for flowers, and pilings with fishnetting made of reinforced steel cable that will double as guard rails to protect the property from erratic motorists.
"I hope that the work on the triangle gets started this fall," said Toback, who along with Legislators Michael Zapson and Joe Scannell, secured the funding for the project. "The funding is there. Now we're just looking to get the plans and get moving on it."
