By: Andrew Coen
John Squeri of Atlantic Beach has filed the petition, demanding that the vote be scrapped. In the petition he argued that the Lawrence school board's July 19 decision to drop the capital reserve fund proposition, which would have required that the proceeds from the sale be set aside for various building needs throughout the district, violated New York state education law and was "arbitrary and capricious." The petition also claimed that by yanking the second proposition from the ballot, the district did not give residents enough public notice, and thus created the potential for confusion.
"The board has failed to give its voters proper notice of the material change of removal of Proposition 2 from the ballot and elected instead With the vote on the sale of the former Number One School property fast approaching, a District 15 resident has filed a petition seeking to stop the referendum because a second proposition, which would have earmarked the money for building repairs, was dropped from the Aug. 7 ballot.
John Squeri of Atlantic Beach has filed the petition, demanding that the vote be scrapped. In the petition he argued that the Lawrence school board's July 19 decision to drop the capital reserve fund proposition, which would have required that the proceeds from the sale be set aside for various building needs throughout the district, violated New York state education law and was "arbitrary and capricious." The petition also claimed that by yanking the second proposition from the ballot, the district did not give residents enough public notice, and thus created the potential for confusion.
"The board has failed to give its voters proper notice of the material change of removal of Proposition 2 from the ballot and elected instead An appraisal conducted last year determined that the former Number One School property was worth roughly $15 million. Neuberg signed the deal during a Lawrence village moratorium on projects requiring high water usage, which has been in place since September, but district officials have indicated that the developer is willing to work with the village to help resolve the issue. Lawrence village officials are in the process of trying to determine how best to increase the capacity of the village's water pollution control plant in order to lift the moratorium.
Lawrence Mayor Dr. Jack Levenbrown said village officials are moving closer to a solution on the moratorium, with an outside consultant recently outlining guidelines and recommendations on how to increase the plant's capacity. Levenbrown said the village's engineering firm, Cameron Engineering, will now examine the recommendations and hope to come up with a plan shortly. "Most people that I speak to say they want luxury apartments on that site, and I agree that we do need them," said Levenbrown of Neuberg's proposal.
Voting on the referendum to approve the sale of the property is scheduled for Monday from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. at Lawrence Middle School, Atlantic Beach Village Hall, the Number Two School in Inwood, the Number Six School in Woodmere and Lawrence High School in Cedarhurst.
Comments about this story? ACoen@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 210.
