The Village of North Hills Board of Trustees plans expand the parking lot at Village Hall to better accommodate residents who take a free shuttle bus provided by the village to and from the Manhasset Long Island Rail Road station.
The village trustees voted at last Wednesday night’s board meeting to award a contract for $18,300 to Westbury-based Stasi Brothers Asphalt Corp. to enlarge the 35-space parking lot. The expansion will add 12 spaces to the current parking area, Village of North Hills Mayor Marvin Natiss said.
“We need more space in the shuttle parking lot. It’s an indication that the shuttle is seeing more use,” Natiss said.
Natiss said more than 35 cars have been parked there lately by village residents using the shuttle and the spillover is taking spaces in the lot normally used for village business.
“We want to get it done as quickly as possible,” Natiss said.
He said Stasi Brothers submitted the lowest estimate of three bidders vying to do the project.
The free shuttle between North Hills Village Hall and the Manhasset station has been running for nearly a year at an annual cost of $200,000 to $225,000, Natiss said. Last month, Natiss said the shuttle is currently being used by about 50 North Hills residents.
“We’re doing the right thing. We’re going to keep it going,” Natiss said at the time. “It’s worth it. The residents park there and it saves them all that aggravation.”
In January, Nattis announced a change in the service when he made arrangements with Long Island Limousine to replace two 20-seat passenger buses shuttling village residents with two 14-passenger buses.
Natiss said the village board is considering a shift in the shuttle hours, reducing the morning runs between 7:30 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. to a 9 a.m. final run. He said he will be discussing another change with Long Island Limousine – adding at least one late bus to the run. The shuttle currently runs from 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. The late bus would run at 8 p.m. or 8:30 p.m., he said.
The service was conceived by Natiss, North Hills Deputy Mayor Dennis Sgambati and resident commuter Eli Weinberg, who was among those present at last week’s board meeting.
Natiss said he’s still hopeful that the shuttle will increase its passenger load and he’s planning to actively plug it to village residents.
In other developments:
• The North Hills board will hold a public hearing on the annual renewal of its contract with the Albertson Hook & Ladder Company on July 16 at 7:30 p.m.
