Work on the final phase of Operation Mainstreet, the project to upgrade the Village of New Hyde Park’s business district, is slated to begin early next month.
“We believe the work will commence the first week in September,” said village Trustee Donald Barbieri at Tuesday night’s village board meeting.
Barbieri said he had recently met with representatives of Bohemia-based J Anthony Enterprises and the state Department of Transportation to discuss details on beginning the last part of the project. He said the contractor is currently doing preliminary planning work on the project.
“The game plan is being defined,” Barbieri said.
The DOT gave a green light to the project earlier this month after the village board had accepted a $1.46 million bid from J Anthony Enterprises in late July.
Baribieri said he was “a little disappointed” that the village couldn’t coordinate its Operation Mainstreet work with a current DOT project to repave Jericho Turnpike from the Queens County line to Herricks Road.
“But,” he said, “I’m sure it will be alright.”
The final phase of Operation Mainstreet’s plans, which were designed by Saratoga Associates, include bulb-outs – rounded corners that would extend slightly into the roadway – to be added at locations yet to be determined, along with installation of solid medians with plantings and access to water sources to maintain the plantings.
Benches will also be installed on sidewalks, which would be paved with the same rustic red brickwork already in place on some sections of the road near the intersection of Jericho Turnpike and Lakeville Road.
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 DOT contractor resurfacing Jericho through New Hyde Park, Flushing-based Tully Construction, is nearly finished with what is the second phase of a $21.1 million DOT project aimed at improving the roadway and increasing pedestrian and motorist safety. Installation of count-down traffic lights by the DOT to make Jericho Turnpike safer to cross is also part of that project.
Barbieri said he expected work on the final phase of Operation Mainstreet would be completed in late fall. He said the contractor’s representatives assured him the company would be able to work around the upcoming New Hyde Park Street Fair on Sept. 21, which will occupy Jericho from New Hyde Park Road to Lakeville Road.
In other developments:
• Village Trustee Donna Squicciarino said the village is awaiting $32,000 in reimbursement from the state for Hurricane Sandy cleanup costs.
Village Clerk Kathryn Hillman said the village has already received $530,000 in reimbursements from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for costs incurred in the aftermath of the storm.
“It’s been a long process and the money’s been coming in,” said New Hyde Park Mayor Robert Lofaro.
• The village board approved a special use permit for Charles DiMarino to add a second building to his New Hyde Park Auto Body business.
DiMarino, who currently operates his business in a 6,000 square foot building at 801 2nd Ave. in New Hyde Park plans to move framework and body work on vehicles in to a 5,000 square foot space at 910 3rd Ave. He said the new facility will house 11 work bays and he will add two employees to the eight people currently working for him.
“I outgrew it,” he told board members of the building that has housed his business for the past 30 years.
• Lofaro commended village Building Department Superintendent Tom Gannon for shutting down a massage parlor that had been operating without a permit in the village.
Gannon said he had shut down the operation on Jericho Turnpike between south 8th and south 9th Streets in early July after notifying the operators that the business was not a permitted use in that location under village code.
Two months earlier, he said, he had told another individual interested in opening a massage parlor at the same location.
He said he received an irate call from the person asking why a massage parlor had been permitted to open on Jericho. He said he then informed the massage parlor operator it was being operated illegally.
“Some of these are legitimate businesses, but under village code, any massage parlor is an adult use,” Gannon said.
• Lofaro said village board members had what he described as a “very productive” meeting with Mark Sommer, the Dix Hills dentist who is one of three owners of the property formerly occupied by Empire Billiards at 1215 Jericho Turnpike. Lofaro said the board offered to assist Sommer in finding a long-term tenant for the space vacated by the billiards hall and bar after it closed down on June 30.
The board had refused to renew Empire Billiards’ gaming license last year after numerous complaints from neighbors about noise and patrons urinating on their lawns. The village subsequently issued summonses to the business for patrons playing pool and the Nassau County Police issued a noise violation to the business in response to neighbors’ complaints shortly before it shuttered its doors.
Sommer has said he intends to find a tenant that will comply with village codes and cause no problems with neighbors.
• Barbieri said the final free entertainment event of the summer season will be The Magic of Amore in Memorial Park on Aug. 27 at 7 p.m.
