The Town of North Hempstead Board approved a series of traffic signage changes in Great Neck and Albertson Tuesday morning at its public hearing meeting, with the additional stop signs in Great Neck in response to the recently approved Lake Success ambulance building.
While the stop signs intend to bolster safety around the ambulance building, residents argued that they would not achieve that. They cited anecdotes of drivers not abiding by current stop signs.
Councilmembers disagreed.
“I believe that the stop signs, whether certain residents feel that it’s not going to help or going to help, I think that our traffic engineer did a full study on it and he felt that it was going to be helpful for the safety of residents and commuters and drivers there,” Councilmember Christine Liu, who represents parts of Great Neck, said.
Manhasset-Lakeville Fire District voters approved a $10 million bond to build a new ambulance unit building at 70 Cumberland Ave. in Lake Success in October.
The district will build a two-story, 10,366-square-foot building at an anticipated total cost of $11.7 million, according to the district.
The town board opted to approve the implementation of the stop signs Tuesday morning, which would be placed on the southbound and eastbound directions at the intersection of Cumberland Avenue and Allen Drive.
The stop signs were proposed after the village’s engineering firm conducted a traffic study at the location in response to the proposal to erect an EMS building at the location, Liu said.
She said the town’s traffic engineer agreed with the assessment to establish stop signs along the street.
A resident told the town board that the Planning Department identified a mistake in the engineering firm’s assessment when measuring the sight distance from the proposed driveway. She said it requires 280 feet of visibility, whereas only 130 was available where Cumberland Avenue meets Allen Drive.
She asked the town board if this had been addressed.
Neither the town board nor a member of the Planning Department was aware of this potential issue raised by the resident.
Other concerns raised by the resident were the narrow roads surrounding the proposed EMS building and noise volume.
Liu said she would meet with the Planning Department to further investigate the issues raised.
Other traffic signs were also approved in Albertson, including a “no stopping here to corner” sign on the west side of Bethel Road from the north curb line of Ashford Place and a stop sign on the southbound and eastbound directions at the intersection of Dewey Avenue and Evans Avenue.
Councilmember Ed Scott said the implementation of the traffic signs is needed in the areas.
The town board also approved the Manhasset Park District’s sale of a developed parking lot at 61 Locust St.
The Manhasset Park District said in its application that the property is no longer of use to the district and sought to sell it to Benedetto Romano for $700,000.
The property would continue to be used for outdoor storage and vehicle parking for the neighboring autobody shop owned by the buyer.
The park district authorized the sale in September but has been awaiting approval by the town board since then.
In other news, multiple residents spoke during public comment about the difficulties of attending public hearings in the morning, citing challenges for them because they were scheduled during the work day.
The town board opted in January to begin holding public hearings in the morning and separate from the monthly board meetings held in the evenings.
