The Wantagh-Seaford Citizen, 2008 February 14, Town says NO to South Shore Bikeway

Town says NO to South Shore Bikeway
by Laura Schofer

Originally published in the 2008 February 14 edition of The Wantagh-Seaford Citizen.
Published online with kind permission from our friends at The Citizen.

The Town of Hempstead will not participate in the proposed South Shore Bikeway that would have linked the Bethpage Bikeway with the Jones Beach Bikeway. Susie Trenkle, town spokesperson, told The Citizen it will would not participate because of safety issues and traffic concerns on residential streets.

The proposed South Shore Bikeway, was initiated by the Town of Oyster Bay, which has applied to New York State for funding available under the Environmental Protection Fund. The bikeway would start at the Massapequa Preserve’s southern corridor, between Sunrise Highway and Merrick Road, along Prospect Place in Massapequa, across Hicksville Road and continue onto Maple Street and then into Seaford and the Town of Hempstead. In Seaford, the proposed bikeway would run along Maple Street through the Tackapausha Preserve across Seaford Avenue, heading to Waverly Avenue. The bike path would cross the Seaford-Oyster Bay Expressway to Willoughby Avenue, down Willoughby, across Merrick Road to Meyer Lane to Cedar Street and into Cedar Creek Park.

The Preserve behind the Tackapausha Museum is part of the proposed Bikeway

“This bikeway would go right through the Tackapausha Preserve which is against our laws,” said Richard Schary, president of Friends of Massapequa Preserve, referring to the “forever wild” legislation that keeps preserves pristine and prevents the building of a paved path.

Nassau County Legislator and Minority Leader Peter Schmitt said “This is a dumb, dumb idea. You have to cross Hicksville Road and it’s much too busy,” he said. “This also involves residential streets where children play. Imagine all those bikes whipping down the street.” Legislator Schmitt said the county legislature was not consulted about this project. Repeated calls to Nassau County for comment were not returned by press time.

Mr. Schary said, “Both of these trails are heavily used paths. We estimate that on any given weekend day in the summer there are 6,000 people using those trails. Now imagine 6,000 people passing your house.” Suzanne Boyle, a consultant for RBA, who did the bikeway study for the Town of Oyster Bay, said, “We found that both bikeways have a high usage; about 110 bikes per hour on the Bethpage and 180 bikes per hour on the Jones Beach bikeway.”

The Town of Oyster Bay did not return repeated telephone calls for comment on this project. However, The Citizen learned that a project advisory committee was created by the Town of Oyster Bay to conduct a study to explore solutions for interconnecting the Bethpage and Jones Beach bikeways for the purposes of guiding riders to the South Shore Estuary.

The project advisory committee included the consultant, RBA; personnel from the Town of Oyster Bay, the Town of Hempstead, Nassau County and two public representatives – Nicki Miller from the Plainview-Bethpage Civic Association and John Ott of the Massapequa Bike Club. Mr. Ott was unavailable for comment but Mr. Miller told The Citizen “this plan has shortcomings. There is a much safer route, one that would run south of Merrick Road. This [proposed] route has very heavy traffic and the streets are narrow, but this is what they preferred.”

	This bikeway would go right through the Tackapausha Preserve which is against our laws
	Richard Schary President of Friends of Massapequa Preserve

Ms. Boyle said, “The overall consensus was this was the best route; it is the most direct and there are schools, museums, parks along the way. We wanted to connect those amenities.” Mr. Schary and Christine Marzigliano submitted a proposal to create a bikeway seeking funds from the Open Space Bond Act of 2006. This bikeway, called The Sunrise Trail, would run down the north side of the Sunrise Highway along the grassy areas and parking lots to the right-of-way along the Seaford Oyster Bay Expressway and then connect to Cedar Creek Park South. That proposal, along with a request for funds for Little League fields at Cedar Creek Park South was denied. Instead the county has proposed to spend $15,000 for an exercise trail in Cedar Creek Park South. Ms. Boyle said the Sunrise Trail was not one of the proposals discussed.

“Once again the residents of Wantagh and Seaford are overlooked,” said Mr. Schary. “It’s all political.” Politics have tainted the bikeway project, according to Mr. Schary. “The public should have been informed about this. They didn’t reach out to the public, didn’t have any public meetings. The town went ahead to apply for funds to do this project,” said Mr. Schary.

The total cost of the project is $403,346. The matching share is $201,673 to be split among the municipalities – Nassau County, $154,062; Town of Hempstead $19,838 and Town of Oyster Bay, $27,773. “The Town of Hempstead is not opting into the Town of Oyster Bay’s plan,” said town spokesperson Susie Trenkle. “The proposal involves secondary streets, some of which have significant car traffic. This could present a real safety issue. Secondarily, we haven’t had a call for this from our residents.” But Mr. Schary wonders, “Once the grant is announced, how do you turn it down?”