THE MAYOR’S UPDATE
Village Hall and the administrative offices are open for in-person inquiries and business, and all full-time staff has returned to the on-site workplace. Office hours are between 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Visitors are required to wear a face covering, maintain social distancing of six feet and sign in to a Visitor’s Log outside of the office they are visiting. Furthermore, while multiple people can enter Village Hall, only one person will be admitted into each office space at a time and are asked to abide by employee instructions. Please don’t forget to wear a mask and to practice social distancing.
PAUL’S STABILIZATION ROUGHLY 50 PERCENT COMPLETE
Walter Beal of CNY Group provided a progress report of the stabilization efforts at St. Paul’s during the Oct. 1, 2020 Board meeting. Window protection is complete, as is vine removal. Stabilization work – including the replacement of missing roof shingles and slate from the clock tower and the repair of gaping holes in the mansard roof is approximately 50 percent complete, according to Mr. Beal. This stage of work began in August and is slated for completion at the end of November.
Crews identified 31 areas where previous “patches” did not hold up to the elements over the years. New framing had to be installed, new joists had to be “sistered” to old joists on many of the rafters, new waterproofing membranes were installed, as well as new siding.
VHB Engineering, Surveying and Landscape Architecture, P.C. is proposing a Phase II environmental assessment proposal to take samples and identify hazardous contaminants and hire an abatement contractor to clean the building.
“The whole purpose of what we are doing is so the building can be abated,” Mr. Beal said. “It is important to note that everything we are doing has to be done whether it’s ultimately demolished or developed into something else.”
VILLAGE COURT REOPENING TO THE PUBLIC ON OCTOBER 13
Garden City Justice Court will again be open to the public on a regular schedule starting Tuesday, Oct. 13th at 5:00 p.m. Notices have already been sent out for the Oct. 13th conference date. If you do not have a conference scheduled for Oct. 13th and have not received a notice, you will NOT be admitted to the courtroom. Please bring your Notice with you. The Court will not be hearing “walk-in” cases that evening.
If you would like to schedule a personal appearance for a FUTURE conference, please email the Court at courtclerk@gardencityny.net or call the Court at 516-465-4085 and leave a message that will include an email address to contact you as well as any Ticket/Summons numbers you wish to address at your conference.
All in-person attendees MUST have a completed Health Screening Assessment (for contact tracing requirements) with them in order to enter the courtroom. This form is available online at www.gardencityny.net. All in-person attendees will have their temperature taken and must wear a secure mask or face covering before they are admitted to the courtroom. No exceptions.
Garden City Justice Court was among the first in the State to receive approval to reopen from the Office of Court Administration and the Administrative Judge for Village Courts, meeting all of the stringent requirements for a safe reopening, according to Village Justice Allen S. Mathers. Notices for new conferences are currently being mailed out for future court dates for conferences and trials. Any increased fines or suspensions that were scheduled to occur after the March 16, 2020 mandatory closing date will be addressed and dismissed, modified or rescinded wherever appropriate.
DENTON AVENUE UNDERPASS CLOSED TO TRAFFIC OCTOBER 8-9
The Tanners Pond Road/Denton Avenue underpass will be closed to traffic Thursday, Oct. 8, and Friday, Oct. 9, for ongoing work for the LIRR Third Track Project. Alternate routes/detours will be set up for motorists traveling to and from Denton Avenue.
The underpass, between Railroad Avenue and Main Avenue, will be closed from 7:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. to accommodate early work utility assessment. During this closure, vehicles can continue to utilize Tanners Pond Road onto Main Avenue and Denton Avenue onto Railroad Avenue. New Hyde Park Road and Nassau Boulevard can be utilized as alternate north/south routes.
The Tanners Pond Road/Denton Avenue Bridge is the last of seven bridge upgrades as part of the LIRR Expansion Project. The bridge is being removed and replaced with a three-track structure to accommodate the new third track and improve safety. A new addition to the modification of this structure includes an ADA-compliant sidewalk on the west side of the roadway, which will allow pedestrians to traverse safely between the north and south sides of the tracks.
Register for updates at https://lirrexpansion.com/register-for-updates, contact the hotline at 203-4955 or email CommunityOutreach@LIRRexpansion.com for more information.
EDGEMERE PARK SAFETY SURFACE
Edgemere Park’s safety surface was replaced earlier this month near the playground area, swings and play structure. The park was briefly closed to the public to allow for these facility upgrades. The new surface is similar to synthetic turf, provides for better drainage and is more child-friendly, according to Paul Blake, chairman of the Board of Commissioners of Cultural and Recreational Affairs. “This is the type of surface we will be specifying from now on,” he said. “It’s a more forgiving surface for kids when they fall.”
GARDEN CITY WATER CUSTOMERS
Notices have been mailed to all Garden City Water customers advising them of a recent law enacted by New York State to protect water consumers whose financial situation might have changed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Affected residents may be entitled to enter into a deferred payment agreement (without down payment, late fees or penalties) for their service. For more information, contact the Garden City Water Department at waterbilling@gardencityny.net.
LICENSE AGREEMENT WITH NCPD EMERGENCY SERVICES
The Board of Trustees granted a five-year extension through Dec. 2025 of a license agreement with the Nassau County Police Department’s Emergency Services Bureau to continue utilizing the Water Works building located at 105 Eleventh Street for the storage of an ambulance and morgue van and use of an office for the ambulance crew, who are also certified in active shooter response. “This has been a benefit to the Village since 1998, and now serves as a valuable back up for us,” Police Commissioner Jackson said in a statement.
LEADERSHIP SUMMIT
Police Commissioner Kenneth Jackson will be attending a leadership summit hosted by the New York State Association of Chiefs of Police and the New York State Sheriffs Association, to be held in Lake George later this month. Among the topics to be covered are legislative mandates, interagency interaction/communication, bail/discovery reform, trends in criminal justice, pandemic issues, traffic safety updates, critical incident response and police reform.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES MEETING
Trustees will meet on Thursday, October 15, 2020 at 8:00 p.m. in St. Paul’s Cluett Hall for a Regular Board meeting. The room will be set up to comply with social distancing rules. Those who wish to attend must wear face masks.
WESTERN NASSAU TRANSMISSION PROJECT
The Western Nassau Transmission Project consists of the construction, operation and maintenance of a proposed new 138 kilovolt underground transmission line primarily within the public roadway rights-of-way for a total distance of approximately seven miles between the East Garden City substation (located in Uniondale) and the Valley Stream substation (located in Lynbrook).
The project is expected to reinforce LIPA’s electric transmission system in the southwest Nassau area and ensure continued reliable service. The underground transmission line will be located wholly within the Town of Hempstead and will traverse the Villages of Garden City, Malverne and Lynbrook, and will be constructed primarily underground. The project is on schedule for a December 2020 completion. The two-week construction schedule in Garden City entails:
Crews began milling and paving Ninth Street from Splice Vault No. 18, located on Ninth Street east of Cherry Valley Avenue, to Hilton Avenue, to Stewart Avenue, to Splice Vault No. 20, located in the Village Green in front of Village Hall.
Generally, cable splicing involves crews using a climate-controlled work trailer, working both in it and inside the splice vaults, splicing together the newly pulled electric cables. The work is continuous, but non-obtrusive. The work generally takes six days to complete. Single lane closures around the work trailer at the splice vaults should be expected. The following areas have anticipated splicing:
- Thursday, Oct. 8, 2020, Splice Vault No. 21, located in the grassy median of Stewart Avenue at Butler Place.
- Thursday, Oct. 15, 2020, Splice Vault No. 20, located in the Village Green at Village Hall off Stewart Avenue.
-Submitted by The Village of Garden City
