New Hyde Park Trustee Donald Barbieri announced at Tuesday night’s village board meeting that the board would begin soliciting bids this week for the final phase of Operation Mainstreet after finally getting the green light from the state Department of Transportation on the project.
“It’s exciting. It’s a little frustrating that it’s taken this long,” said Barbieri, who had been anticipating final approval from the DOT for the past several months.
Barbieri said the board would be opening bids from contractors to complete the project to upgrade the business district along Jericho Turnpike on June 6. A green light was given to the bidding process after the village board cleared the final hurdle with the state DOT by affirming the project would have no negative environmental impact on the area.
“We get notified by the state that different environmental reports that were filed years ago have now expired and need to be updated before they allow us to go out to bid,” Barbieri said.
Barbieri said the DOT’s work to repave Jericho from the Queens county line to Herricks Road will start in late June or early July. The DOT will also install countdown traffic signals to at several intersections to enhance pedestrian safety.
Planned upgrades designed by Saratoga Associates for Jericho Turnpike will follow, including bulb-outs – rounded corners that would extend slightly into the roadway – and installation of solid medians with plantings.
Benches intended to make the business district more pedestrian friendly will also be installed on sidewalks, which will be paved with the same rustic red brickwork already in place near the intersection of Jericho and Lakeville Road.
Village of New Hyde Park Mayor Robert Lofaro noted that the state required the board to change their plans three times and amend a resolution it had previously passed regarding federal reimbursement for the project.
“We had to pass a resolution that had slightly different wording than the resolution we had passed already because the state was not satisfied with the resolution,” Lofaro said.
Lofaro said the resolution, passed at an emergency meeting on April 21, states the state DOT would receive federal funding earmarked for the project and reimburse the village when the work is completed.
The New Hyde Park project is being funded through a federal transportation appropriation of $1.425 million secured by U.S. Rep. Carolyn McCarthy under the community block grant program.
The first order of business at the meeting was inducting newly appointed village Trustee Donna Squicciarino.
Lofaro appointed Squicciarino to fill Lofaro’s unexpired term as trustee after he was elected mayor in March.
“I appreciate this opportunity, I would also like to take this time to thank my family. Tuesday nights will be a bit different.” Squicciarino said.
Lofaro told her, “You add a different dynamic to the board.”
In other developments:
• Lofaro said the board is anticipating reimbursement soon from the Federal Emergency Management Association for $375,000 in expenses related to Hurricane Sandy. He said salaries of village workers resulting from work during and after the storm would also be covered.
• Squicciarino said a farmer’s market will be held in the municipal parking lot across from Village Hall each Saturday between June to November. The market will be open from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.
• Village Trustee Lawrence Montreuil reminded residents that the annual village Memorial Day Parade is scheduled for May 25.
• Barbieri said a Rolling Stones tribute band will perform on June 19 in Memorial Park.
