Sayville Residents Keep Up Fight Against School Maintenance Facility

Nearly 50 residents who live near the location of the Sayville School District's new maintenance facility packed into Islip Town Hall Thursday night to plead with the town's Planning Board to deny a road opening permit.

A permit to open up and extend Garfield Avenue, a dead-end road, by about 100 feet is one of the final hurdles for the project.

"I bought my house because it’s a dead-end," said Tom Falco, who lives on Howard Court, one of three short dead-end blocks that jut off of Garfield Avenue. "This project will completely destroy why I moved there."

The Planning Board voted to reserve judgement on the permit after hearing from more than a dozen Sayville residents, including Harry Berg.

"That entire community is very quiet," said Berg, who lives on Garfield Avenue, addressing his concerns over the school district's maintenance vehicles--which total 27--using the road each day. "There's not a vehicle that drives down that area where you don't know the owner of the vehicle or the home." 

Lisa Weaver, a real estate attorney representing the school district, said the district already has the right to use the "paper road" at the end of Garfield Avenue.

"We are here to make sure the district is using a road they have a legal right to complies with the town’s standards," Weaver told the Planning Board. "We are here in the spirit of cooperation."

Although the Planning Board has say over authorizing the road opening permit, it cannot base its decision on what the district is using the property for, town officials said.

"The use of this property is not within the jurisdiction of this board," said Lisa Anderson, a member of the town's planning staff.

Anderson said a maintenance facility is not something that is typically allowed in residential areas, but school districts are exempt from local zoning. The project, which has seen plenty of debates before the school board and in the court system, already has building permits issued from Albany and is expected to be completed later this year.

The town, Anderson said, has in the past urged the school district to find another way to access the facility, either through working with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority or the , whose parking lot is located alongside Garfield Avenue.

As it stands, though, the Planning Board can only seek to "ensure that the road (Garfield Avenue) is opened to the town's specifications," Town Planning Commissioner David Genaway said.

School officials have they have already addressed numerous concerns of residents in the area regarding the project.

“It is understandable that several families living adjacent to the district’s Garfield Avenue property would oppose any project that might change the rustic appearance of the area," Sayville Superintendent Walter Schartner in October.  "The district responded by working closely with these individuals, listened to their concerns, and has made many accommodations to address their issues.”

Funding for the capital project in the amount of $1.1 million was approved as part of the 2009-10 school budget vote. School officials, however, in November that an additional $500,000--from the district’s fund balance--will be needed in order to complete the second phase of the project.

A few Garfield Avenue residents who spoke at the public hearing Thursday said they were considering moving out of the neighborhood.

"It’s sad to say, but I've been looking at other dead-ends somewhere else in town," said Matt Frenz, a schoolteacher who has a newborn son and several pets. "I'm not going to stay where my dog can get hit by a car."

Planning Board members were relatively quiet before and after the public hearing, although Chairman Joe Devincent said the board could not make its decision on the "basis of popularity."

The next Planning Board meeting is on Feb. 9, although a firm date for a vote on the road opening permit has not yet been set.