By:Andrew Coen
After more than 40 years of cars backing up onto Central Avenue, the Peninsula Public Library is close to getting a separate driveway exit, after library officials upped the pressure on Lawrence school administrators.
The Lawrence school board agreed at its Jan. 25 meeting to grant an easement, which would take 12 feet of property from the now-closed Number One School, and make way for the construction of a Central Avenue exit for the adjacent library.
The proposal still needs to be accepted by the library's board of trustees before the logistics can be worked out to start the long-awaited driveway project, according to library officials. They have been trying for decades to convince the school district, which owns the library property, to set aside 12 to 15 feet for a separate entrance and exit for the library driveway. The library currently has a one-lane driveway, making it dangerous for cars to enter and exit at the same time and often forcing arriving vehicles to back out onto Central Avenue when they encounter exiting vehicles.
Last June, the door was opened for the school board to provide the necessary land for the driveway, when it voted to close the school and move the students to the Number Six School in Woodmere as part of a consolidation plan that district officials say will save roughly $900,000 a year. Previous District 15 school boards said they could not provide the necessary land for the separate driveway due to a state Department of Education law that requires a certain amount of playground space for elementary schools. But with the Number One School now closed, the law no longer applies, according to district officials.
School board President Kathy Raquet said that District 15's attorneys will now research the easement to make sure it is legal, and then it will be up to the library's board of trustees to accept or decline the easement. The library board is also scheduled to meet with the school board's library committee in the next week, according to Raquet. "It makes us very happy to have taken care of the safety [issue]," she said.
During the Jan. 25 meeting, library President Joseph Fuller thanked the school board for its easement offer and said his trustees would give serious consideration to the proposal once they got the specific details of the easement. "We look forward to getting the details, so we can consider [the easement] as soon as we can," Fuller said.
According to Raquet, if the library accepts the easement, the next step would be to conduct a survey of the property in preparation for the driveway construction. It is not known how much the driveway construction would cost the library, according to Fuller. Part of the construction would include the removal of the fence that separates the former elementary school and library, but it is unclear whether a light pole on the curb next to the library on Central Avenue would be affected, according to Raquet.
"We are cautiously optimistic," said Joan Lepelstat, the library's assistant director, about the prospect of constructing a separate driveway for patrons in the near future.
Meanwhile, library officials are still pressing ahead to try and expand the library facility. Since the Number One School closed, library supporters have been lobbying to obtain .6 acres - a parcel of land measuring 100 feet by 280 feet - of the 3.6-acre school property for an expansion. The school district said it wants to sell or lease the former school property. An appraisal of the property was recently completed by a private firm, although the results are not being released by school officials on the advice of the district's attorneys. According to Raquet, if the library decides to accept the easement, the 12 feet would be taken off the appraisal price.
Raquet said that the school board plans to send out requests for proposals on the Number One School property this week. If the board were to sell the property, it would need to get referendum approval, according to Raquet. Lawrence's lawyers have advised the board not to reveal specifics about the interested parties, but Touro College has expressed interest, as well as condominium developers and yeshivas, officials said.
According to Touro College Trustee Martin Oliner, if the college purchased the Number One School property, it would be willing to work with the library to allow expansion of the library facility.
Comments about this story? ACoen@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 210.
