By Nicole Falco
After legal fees, the district will receive $419,000 of the $660,000 award, Superintendent Lawrence McGoldrick said.
In March 2002, the district filed suit against the current and former owners of the Exxon station at 562 West Merrick Road and the Exxon-Mobil Corporation, seeking restitution for costs associated with the monitoring and remediation of an oil spill that the district became aware of in the summer of 1999. The spill, which extended south from the gas station to the Long Island Rail Road station, had contaminated the soil directly under the Clear Stream Avenue School.
After being told of the spill, which had occurred in the early 1990s, the district came forward with the news and hired an environmental firm, Cashin Associates P.C. of Hauppauge, to conduct regular tests at a cost to the district of $4,000 a month. To pay for the monitoring, the district had been using money that was left over from its annual budget. In September 2004, a court-appointed firm, FPM Group, began monitoring the site at the gas station¹s expense.
³All the rounds have shown the same thing,² Stephanie Davis, a senior hydrogeologist, said in a statement released by a public relations firm employed by the district. ³There is no impact on the soil vapor beneath the school, and there also appears to be no impact in ambient air inside the school building.
³We are paid by the gas station, however, our client is the district,² she said. ³We have a contractual obligation to the district, and we are looking out for the best interest of the students, teachers and administrators at Clear Stream Avenue School.²
The actual cleanup of the spill is the responsibility of the gas station. The cleanup is ongoing, and is being done under the direction of the Department of Environmental Conservation. The contaminant was MTBE, a gasoline additive that was used for more than 20 years before being phased out.
Making a purchase
Last May, voters approved a referendum put forth by the district, allowing it to purchase office space at 175 N. Central Ave., which the district has been leasing since it moved from its Washington Avenue building in September 2002. The building on Washington Avenue has since been converted to the Clear Stream Avenue School Annex, also known as the district¹s kindergarten learning center.
³Currently, we are pursuing the purchase of this leased space,² McGoldrick said in a statement. ³This will enable us to keep the kindergartners in the Washington Avenue facility and allow [the] Clear Stream Avenue School more space for the elementary grades.²
The district is purchasing 3,096 square feet, or 44 percent of the building, at a cost of approximately $550,000, the majority of which will be paid for using settlement funds. Therefore, the impact to taxpayers will be minimal, McGoldrick said. The district has not yet closed on the property.
Wallach Management, the building¹s owner, is able to sell almost half of the building by subdividing it, according to state regulations, in order to create two separate entities or condominiums. Both halves will continue to be used as office space.
³Many people have asked us why we didn¹t purchase the whole building,² McGoldrick said. ³Frankly, I don¹t want to be a landlord. My first order of duty is to the children in our community.²
Comments about this story? NFalco@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 208.
