By KAREN RICE
The library wants to use a portion of the adjacent Number One School property to accommodate its desperate need for additional parking, officials said.
The first plan, which the library board favored at a July 25 library board meeting, would increase parking by 76 spaces and reconfigure the property with a newly-created parking lot off to the left side of the Central Avenue library and in front of the neighboring Number One School building and existing playing field.
Anthony Licatesi, school board trustee, immediately questioned plopping a parking lot down in front of the school. You want to make the front of the public school a parking lot? he asked. Is that what this proposal is?
Robert Burgess, chief engineer of the Melville-based engineering firm of Fay, Spofford & Thorndike, tried to reassure school board members and informed them that under this arrangement, the school would be allowed to share the lot with the library and the students would have a safer bus drop-off area in front of the school's entrance because of a new circular driveway. Presently, the students are dropped off by Central Avenue.
Also with the first plan, the existing 22-space lot behind the library would be used for staff parking only. In addition, some play areas of the school might be relocated but the main playing field would remain intact. The library board maintained it needed about 75 parking spaces to accommodate its patrons, as compared to the 35 it has now, including parking along Central Avenue.
The second plan would relocate the school's main playing field to accommodate all the parking in a back lot. The parking entrance would remain the same as it is now with parking spaces in the rear of the library and new playing field. The new driveway exit would be located between the school and the library.
Burgess also estimated that each plan would cost about $400,000 but told the school board that this is only a ballpark figure to get a discussion started and no one has gotten down into the nitty gritty.
Dr. David Sussman, school board member, questioned whether the library would be able to replace a playing field, as suggested in the second plan, in addition to a new parking lot for just $400,000. It cost us $60,000 to put in that little play area at Number Four School and you can move that play area and put in everything else for $400,000?
Kathy Raquet Barry, another school board member, also questioned if library officials had fully looked into the time and work needed to develop a playing field. I know developing that field has taken years, she said. I was wondering if that kind of consideration was taken in [the library's estimates].
Burgess told the board that the new playing field would have the exact same measurements as the existing playing field and that all his calculations are broad estimates.
The school board also questioned what impact the new parking plans would have on taxes. Michael Fried, library board president, promised that both proposals would have a zero tax impact . . . on anybody and everybody.
Frank Parise, school board president, asked if the library board had discussed any simpler plans. He suggested, perhaps, taking 20 feet from library property to make an entrance and an exit. Parise added, I think we are going to have a tough time taking this much property from Number One School.
Fried said that other options were considered but no other plans would be in the best interest of the school board and the library. By taking library property to make a new exit, the library would wind up having 5 to 10 fewer spots and no handicap parking by the door, Fried said.
Barry asked if the library has done any formal traffic study involving the police department to determine how severe the parking problem really is. Burgess said the library performed a private study but no formal investigation was made, although the police are aware that the present parking conditions are dangerous. There is an existing police report that indicates that the present access into the library obviously is dangerous, Burgess said. The reason that it's dangerous is it's a one-way situation. There is no circulation. You have to back out into Central Avenue if there is a confrontation between an in and an out meeting.
The school board concluded that more figures and discussion were needed before any decision could be made, such as the total square footage of the property that could be taken from the Number One School. Fried assured the board that the new parking is greatly needed and would absolutely be fully utilized. We have programs every weekend, Fried said. We are a public facility. [More parking] would be in the best interest of the entire community.
