Plainedge outlines plans for land swap with Town
by Kelly Walter

The Plainedge School District and the Town of Oyster Bay are considering a land swap deal that will give the school district back the former Picken Elementary School, now the site of Town Hall South, plus $1.5 million in exchange for the Town's taking ownership of the Sylvia Packard Middle School. The proposal is expected to come before voters for approval Dec. 3.

In the meantime, the school held a meeting Sept. 3 to outline the plan in detail and to elicit comments from the community and to respond to questions. The residents who spoke out raised concerns about the potential for more traffic and noise at the new Packard Town Hall building, additional costs to school taxpayers, financing, and the availability of school fields for school athletics and community use. Some residents even suggested that the Packard Middle School property be sold to developers and used for senior housing.

"It's time you start looking to take care of the seniors," said Ilene Vasti, a Plainedge resident.

"As far as I'm concerned the $1.5 million is a joke," said Florence Romano, a Plainedge resident. "The houses here go for $500,000 or $600,000."

School Superintendent Christine P'Simer said that selling property to a developer opens the district and the community to risks that the district does not want to take and that the $1.5 million the Town will give the district in the exchange deal was the difference between two appraisal figures of $1 million and $2 million.

The terms of the agreement are for the school district to reacquire the Picken property, which is now owned by the Town of Oyster Bay, without exclusive use of the baseball fields, and $1.5 million dollars in exchange for the Packard property. The Town will rent Picken for 3 years at an annual cost of $120,000 a year, ensuring that Plainedge will have rental income on the building throughout that time.

Once the Town acquires Packard, it will demolish the building and construct a smaller building there for several of the Town's various departments. It will not, however, relocate the gasoline and truck depot now at Picken to the Packard property. It will be moved to an alternate Town site. The new site will also have more than double the amount of parking than was previously there, which will alleviate the problem of Town employees and residents who go to Town Hall South parking on residential streets and in front of homes in the area.

In addition, the Town has agreed to install stateof the-art athletic fields at its new site, which would be used for district sports teams Monday through Friday, until 6 p.m. After that, the fields will be available for community groups, but preference will be given to Plainedge school groups, with the scheduling managed by the Town.

Both sides agreed that the Packard site will not have lights on the fields to ensure that they don't disturb residents, and they cannot be used for anything but recreational purposes, unless otherwise approved by the residents, according to the agreement. That precludes the land from being sold at sometime in the future for development of condominiums, townhouses or other private uses, said school officials.

The Picken baseball fields can be used during the day when and if the district reopens that school for educational purposes. The Packard building has not been used as a school since 2004. The large building has been in poor condition for quite some time and has been costly for the district to upgrade and maintain. While they have tried to get the building rented, the superintendent said just to keep the building in good standing, it would involve the expenditure of a lot of money to do major repairs, such as adding a new roof.

School officials said the plan has major benefits for the district.

"This exchange [with the Town] came about as the school district was looking for renters," said P'Simer, who added that it is costing the district approximately $84,500 a year to maintain the building. The $120,000 rent from the Town would help offset other costs and she said the $1.5 million would be placed in the district's capital improvements account. That separate account, said P'Simer, will be used to make some much needed improvements and the district will not be able to spend it unless the public approves the work and the expenditures in a vote.

In addition, the district will have use of stateof the art fields and Picken is a smaller, more manageable property, which is in better condition than Packard, and which the district will be able to more easily rent because of its location, said the superintendent.

The district will also be holding on to a school building in the event enrollment changes and additional classroom space is needed.

"It is not good policy to give up a school site," said P'Simer. Selling everything now and putting up senior housing or something else would be short sighted.

"Although the District does not anticipate using Picken as a school, we need to keep it in case the District experiences an enrollment increase in the future" said P'Simer.

Residents disagreed about the use of the fields. Some said the district has enough, while others said morewere needed. Still others said the district and the Town should consider providing other types of open space such as a dog run or walking path.

How will the demolition of Packard and the new traffic patterns impact the community, residents asked. Response about the demolition came from Mike Spinelli,of Cashin, Spinelli and Ferretti, the architects on the plan.

"All safety measures put in place [by New York State] will obviously have to be followed," said Spinelli. "You can not talk about bringing in a crane and a big wrecking ball. These days demolition is very, very professional."

"When the school was there [at Packard] I know it was utter chaos," said Vasti, asking what will be done to control traffic.

The conceptual design calls for putting up a three-floor building at Packard with community spaces, government offices and the department of parks. The fields will take up approximately 40 percent of the property, as compared to the current 26 percent, and due to the smaller building, the Town will be able to provide much more parking and a more efficient on site traffic plan. Plans for the site should be available soon and the district said it plans to put them on the district website.

The Plainedge Board of Education will have to vote on the plan. After that it is expected to be put before voters on December 3.

Reader Comments

No comments have been posted. Be the first!

Other Stories With Comments:
Article	Comments
News: March 25, 2008	1
PLEASE MEET: Candidates for Fire District Commissioners' seats in...	1