Town Grants Road Opening For Sayville Schools Maintenance Facility

The Islip Town Planning Board granted the Sayville School District a road opening permit for Garfield Avenue Thursday night, paving the way for the district's new maintenance facility. 

With guidance from the town attorney after some questions were raised at a previous over the location of deeds that showed who exactly owned the "paper road," the board vote unanimously, 7-0, to grant the permit to extend Garfield Avenue by about 100 feet.

Extending the road will give the district access to the new facility along the railroad tracks that will cost an estimated $1.6 million. 

Planning Board members and others town officials have said repeatedly in the face of opposition to the project from local residents that they had no legal right to deny the permit based on the use of the property. 

"It's not a zoning matter in our control," board chairman Joe DeVincent said before the vote. "The school district and the Department of Education and New York State has that power."

School officials have they have "made many accommodations" to address the concerns of residents in the Garfield Avenue over the project.

A handful of residents who turned out for Thursday's meeting, though, remained unconvinced that the district did enough to seek out a more suitable location for the facility.

"It's pretty disappointing," said one Howard Court resident, who did not want his name used, after the board's vote. "I don't think they put enough effort into trying to rebuild the Tyler Avenue facility...a quiet wooded area is gone."

School officials have said the Tyler Avenue facility is "irreparable" and rebuilding it would "far exceed the cost" of building a new facility on the district-owned Garfield Avenue property. 

The new mantainance facility is expected to be completed later this year.