Officials planning a third track for the Long Island Rail Road’s are going heavy on talk and light on crucial details, opponents of the plan said Thursday.
About three dozen local officials, including village mayors and state and county legislators, called on the Metropolitan Transportation Administration and Gov. Andrew Cuomo to release specific information about how the project Cuomo announced in January will impact their communities before holding public meetings about it.
“These are simple questions. This is not new,” state Sen. Jack Martins (R-Old Westbury) said at a press conference at Mineola’s LIRR station. “And yet here we are five months later and we haven’t been able to get the answers.”
Cuomo has tried to distinguish his $1.5 billion plan to add a track along 9.8 miles of the LIRR’s Main Line between Floral Park and Hicksville as less invasive than the MTA’s 2005 proposal. He has said it will eliminate all seven street-level crossings along the stretch, confine construction to the LIRR’s existing right of way and avoid residential property takings.
Martins, state Assemblyman Ed Ra (R-Franklin Square) and others said planners have yet to say how they will accomplish those goals, even after meeting more than 100 times with officials and community leaders.
While they credited planners’ outreach so far, officials said the MTA should also hold more public meetings and extend the public comment period past the June 13 end date.
“We need to slow down,” Village of New Hyde Park Deputy Mayor Lawrence Montreuil said. “This is not the time to fast-track the project, during the public commenting period.
The press conference preceded an informational meeting in New Hyde Park at 7:30 p.m. Thursday where village officials plan to discuss the project with residents.
Next week’s scoping meetings in New Hyde Park, Uniondale, Westbury and Hicksville are among several steps required under state environmental review law before construction can begin. The LIRR will start an environmental study after the scoping period.
State officials released a scoping document May 5 outlining the study and detailing options for eliminating each street-level crossing. The project would take three to four years to build, it says, with each crossing elimination taking six to nine months.
In a statement, Cuomo transportation spokeswoman Beth DeFalco said planners met with many officials who were at Thursday’s press conference and incorporated their feedback into the scoping document.
Planners will also consider comments from six upcoming scoping meetings on May 24 and 25 as they develop the environmental study, she said.
“The governor has committed to unprecedented community engagement — early and often — and that’s what you are seeing right now and will continue to see as the project moves forward,” DeFalco said.
About five people representing the pro-third track Right Track For Long Island Coalition also appeared at Thursday’s press conference. They say the project would boost Long Island’s economy, create jobs and attract new residents while improving LIRR service as ridership increases.
“It has to get done,” said Billy Cornell, a construction worker from Westbury. “If you don’t do it now, you wait 10 years and do it then, it’s going to cost double.”
Village officials along the Main Line have maintained residents will derive little to no benefit from a project that would disrupt traffic, business and overall quality of life in their communities.
The mayors of New Hyde Park, Floral Park, Mineola, Garden City, Westbury, Stewart Manor, South Floral Park and Bellerose sent a second letter Monday asking the Nassau County Village Officials Association to join their opposition.
Floral Park-based opposition coalition Citizens Against Rail Expansion has gotten more than 75 officials and organizations to oppose the project.
Residents can attend meetings at the Inn at New Hyde Park on May 24 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.
