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Huntington Station residents Maureen Ramirez (left) and Mary Feldman look over
maps and information provided by the Long Island Railroad during its information
session last week.

Long Islander Photo/Brian Ferry

HUNTINGTON STATION
Residents Bombard Railroad With Questions

By Brian Ferry

Some may wonder if the Long Island Railroad (LIRR) knew what they were
getting themselves into when they hosted a string of four public meetings over
the past two weeks.

The agency is required to hold such meetings as part of the development of an
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), which will narrow down six potential sites
to one preferred site for the construction of a 16-track electric car storage,
cleaning, and maintenance facility. At the final meeting held November 13 at
Huntington Intermediate School, hundreds of Huntington Station residents turned
out to tell LIRR officials the site located in their backyards — adjacent to Manor
Park fields — is out of the question.

Like the meetings before it, the one at Huntington Intermediate started with a
two-hour information open house, where residents could speak with a dozen
different LIRR officials who were on hand (including LIRR President James
Dermody); view maps, photos and descriptions of each site; and watch a
seven-minute video about the agency’s intentions and desires for establishing the
rail yard.

“We’re interested in what may be built in the community,” said South Huntington
resident Mike Mifsud, who was attending the open house portion with his wife
Anna. They also attended an anti-railroad facility rally held at Manor Field Park on
October 8. “Also, our son plays football in Manor Field Park, so there’s an interest
of ours too.”

In fact, shortly after railroad officials opened the public hearing portion of the
meeting, a parade of Bulldogs youth football players and cheerleaders marched
into the auditorium and took seats front and center.

Once inside for the public forum, officials from the LIRR and AKRF (an
independent consulting firm assisting with the EIS) gave short presentations.
LIRR Chief Planning Officer Elisa Picca explained how the Port Jefferson Branch
rail yard is one of a number of projects that the agency and the Metropolitan
Transportation Authority (MTA) are working to complete over the next 10 years
or so. Those other projects include the Brooklyn Atlantic Avenue Terminal, the
Jamaica AirTrain, the new M-7 Rail Car, and the East Side Access project at
Grand Central Station. She added that today, there are 87,000 commuters who
travel to Penn Station on the Port Jefferson Branch during the four-hour morning
rush. They estimate that this ridership, with the second terminal at Grand Central
Station, will increase to 128,000 by 2020.

But as soon as the microphone was handed over to the crowd, a barrage of
arguments were thrown at the officials and at the unfortunate stenographer
designated to take the minutes of this meeting.

State Senator Carl Marcellino was the first to the microphone where he insisted
that the LIRR should look into better utilizing the Oyster Bay Line to help alleviate
traffic on the eastern parts of the Port Jefferson Line. Marcellino argued that
infrequent timetables are among a host of reasons that make riders from
neighboring towns travel to Huntington Station.

“These people would prefer to stay closer to their homes,” he said. “Take those
facilities and put them to better use.” He added, as many after him did, that
electrification to Port Jefferson station would be “a solution to a whole number of
problems,” and offered to lead the charge to obtain the proper funds.

“This site is clearly located in the midst of a residential neighborhood,” said State
Assemblyman James Conte. “It is adjacent to Manor Field Park where these guys
play every weekend,” he said, as he motioned to the Bulldog contingent in the
audience. “I firmly believe that all of the reasons not to build in Greenlawn firmly
apply to this site only a half-mile away.”

Among local officials who spoke, Town Councilwoman Susan Berland claimed that
the Huntington Station site is topographically unsuitable, requiring over 500,000
cu. yards of fill to bring the property up 15 feet and equal to the grade of the
track. She added that a developer is in the final approval stages for building 109
new homes on this land.

Gerard Brindman, a town resident and vice president of the LIRR Commuter
Council, drew a Bronx cheer from many in the crowd when he stated that the
Council favors building the facility, though they have no preference as to the site
chosen. He argued, “If we get a yard built, we can add three more peak trains.”
At the end of his three minutes, Brindman added his personal opinion, saying,
“Myself — and I am not saying this so I can get to my car safely — I’d like to see
this facility put as far east as possible.”

Other topics brought up by speakers included the diesel exhaust, especially its
effect on young athletes at Manor Field Park; the fact that the Huntington Station
site is the most congested of all the six preliminary sites; that electrification to
Port Jefferson should already have been included among the other large railroad
projects listed earlier; pre-existing parking issues that will worsen with the
addition of a rail facility; and the fact that electrification to Port Jefferson would
be much cheaper if done now than in another 20 years, should the LIRR later
decide the public is right.

Pat Boucher, a Huntington Country Farms resident, first pointed out that all of the
roads in the Huntington Country Farms development were left off the LIRR maps
included in the mailed information packets and map boards in the other room.

“It is beyond comprehension how this property could have passed the initial list of
considerations,” she said. She argued that with a facility here or anywhere else in
the towns of Huntington or Smithtown would mean that the railroad tracks across
Park Avenue would be closed much more often, creating more gridlock and
cutting off the only direct route to Huntington Hospital from areas south of the
tracks. She added that with this development in the final stages of approval is a
designation to reserve 2.9 acres for parkland.

“This is a far superior plan for this land,” she concluded

© 2003 Long Islander Newspapers, Inc.
(631) 427-7000
322 Main Street
Huntington, NY 11743

2003 Nov 20