(The following article by Joie Tyrrell was posted on Newsday.com on June 17.)
NEW YORK — The Long Island Rail Road is considering four sites in Smithtown and two locations in eastern Huntington to build a 16-track rail yard, railroad officials announced at a public hearing last night.
Sites in Huntington being considered are land adjacent to the Huntington State Armory and a parcel west of Bread and Cheese Hollow Road that is south of Pulaski Road. Smithtown locations are two sites in Kings Park located near a sand mine; a parcel at the Kings Park Psychiatric Center; and land next to St. Catherine of Siena Medical Center. A new yard could mean extending electrification east of Huntington.
Several speakers at the East Northport hearing criticized the plans and blasted the railroad for failing to disclose the sites before last night’s meeting.
“We live out here in Suffolk County and we’re quite happy with our one track and our diesels and this is the way we want it to be,” said Lawrence Fox, of East Northport.
Suffolk County Legis. Allan Binder (R-Huntington) told the railroad, that “you are going to have a heck of a fight on your hands.”
The railroad will start an environmental review of the properties and continue to gather comments from the public. The railroad could possibly study all six sites or narrow the number of locations in the coming months, officials said. “Once we start to study them, we’ll find out which ones are the best sites,” said LIRR spokesman Brian Dolan.
The sites will be evaluated on the basis of a number of factors, including land-use issues, noise considerations and impact on natural resources.
A storage and light-maintenance yard is necessary to expand service on the Port Jefferson line, officials said.
In the November 2002 LIRR report card which is issued by a transit advocacy group, riders on the Port Jefferson line listed more frequent service as their top priority. “Everybody wants more service and nobody wants a trainyard,” said Beverly Dolinsky, executive director of the LIRR Commuters Council. “The railroad says it can’t supply more service unless they have a place to store trains.”
But East Northport resident Ralph Castro said he is concerned about the site on the Huntington-Smithtown border that would be close to his home.
“Noise, pollution, impact on the property values,” Castro said were some of the reasons why he is concerned about a yard. He also said he is going to wait and see what happens next. “It’s probably too early for me to get stressed out,” he said.
About three years ago, Greenlawn residents strongly opposed a proposed 16-track night-time storage and maintenance yard in their community. Dolan said that because of a prior MTA commitment, the current proposed yard will not be located within Greenlawn.
The railroad stores equipment on a siding east of the Huntington Station with a three-train capacity. Also, the railroad operates several morning rush-hour trains to Huntington from its West Side Yard.
A final environmental impact statement should be finished some time during 2005. The railroad will continue to gather public comments until Aug. 31.
Narrowing Down The Options
LIRR officials have slimmed down to six the number of potential sites for building a rail yard.
ABOUT THE LOCATIONS
1 – Adjacent to state armory.
2 3 – North of LIRR tracks, south of Pulaski Rd.
4 – South of LIRR tracks, west of Sunken Meadow Pkwy.
5 – Vacant area of Kings Park Psychiatric Center.
6 – Near St. Catherine of Siena Medical Center