With the sixth-graders moving to Howitt Middle School next September, members of the Farmingdale Board of Education and administration are concerned over the issue of adequate parking. At a Feb. 6 board meeting, district architect John Grillo and Assistant Superintendent for Business John Lorentz discussed five options to ease the parking concerns at Howitt Middle School once the new wing is fully constructed and the school welcomes dozens of new teachers.

With approximately 43 new spaces needed to accommodate the new teachers that will be coming to Howitt in September, the district is looking for possible areas around the school to build a new parking lot.

At the meeting, Lorentz explained that the five options include building a lot by 1) moving the athletic fields at the southern portion of the school, 2) relocating the existing tennis courts at the school, 3) leaving the tennis courts undisrupted and constructing the lot off Conklin St., 4) building near the maintenance shed or 5) taking no action, asking teachers to park along the curbside on both Van Cott and Grant Avenues.

Lorentz explained that option one, utilizing the area by the two softball fields, would provide an additional 70 spaces, but would disrupt use of the fields. He explained that since the athletic department has limited flexibility as far as moving extracurricular activities to other locations, this option isn't favorable since it would infringe upon after school activities. If the district went with this option, the existing soccer field would have to be relocated in order to avoid it hitting the relocated softball field or, the soccer field can remain unchanged if one of the softball fields are deleted completely.

Another option (2), utilizing the area near the existing tennis courts by Conklin St., would call for the removal and relocation of the courts, making this option the most expensive. In addition, maintenance personnel would have a farther walk to the shed in which supplies are stored and getting in and out of the lot may prove to be difficult due to its location. This option would also provide 70 additional spaces.

Several board members questioned whether or not some of these options should even be considered, since some would result in student activities being interrupted.

"We're presenting you with options that aren't [necessarily] viable, but we want you to see that we've explored all options," Superintendent Dr. Roberta Gerold told the board at the meeting.

The board and administration agreed that the option they will ultimately choose should disrupt students as little as possible.

Board President Anthony Vitale questioned why parking at the school is suddenly an issue; why it wasn't discussed when initial plans were being drawn. Grillo and Lorentz explained that when original plans were drawn up, the media center which is being constructed at the school was in a different location. Its construction was later modified, resulting in the loss of 12 spots. Grillo added that when his firm first looked into the project, one of the lots at Howitt was often fairly vacant, making him believe that much additional parking would be unnecessary.

Nevertheless, as Dr. Gerold pointed out, more parking is necessary now, and asked the board to consider these options.

The third option, which administrators favor, would provide 30 additional spaces near Conklin Street. This option would not disrupt any student activity, including athletic events, but would be the farthest from the building. Lorentz explained that while this option would only provide some of the spaces the school would need, he felt that many teachers would end up parking on the street anyway, so the 30 spaces would be sufficient.

Option four, which would also provide 30 additional spaces, would take space away from the maintenance parking area. Although the athletic fields would remain pretty much untouched, with just the basketball courts having to be relocated and the lot being a little close to the baseball field, the area by the fields where they would put the spots is now heavy with student activity. Lorentz explained that oftentimes students, especially before and after school, tend to remain in that area, making this option highly unfavorable to administrators. While that lot would be closest to the building, therefore most convenient for teachers, it would be not easily accessible at all times of the day since buses go through the driveway adjacent to the lot. Therefore, during the morning before school and afternoon after school hours, teachers would not be able to come and go from the lot because they would be blocked by bus activity. Grillo noted that this option was least favorable to the architects as well, particularly since student activity in that area would be disrupted.

Option five would be to ask the village to remove the "no parking" signs around Van Cott and Grant Avenues, providing an approximate 70 spaces on those streets for teachers to park curbside. Board members and administrators felt that this may be a problem, since parents come and go from the school throughout the day and with an abundance of cars on the street, may double park or cause other traffic problems. In addition, Dr. Gerold noted that the community has been lucky with warm weather so far this winter. She said that in the event of inclement weather, snow may pile up and cause the loss of several spots along the road.

Explaining that the administration favors option three, which provides 30 spaces and interrupts no student activity, Dr. Gerold said that while the new teaching staff seems to require 60 spaces, not all teachers will be at the school on a full time basis, so the district actually needs only an approximate 42.

"With a field providing 30 additional spaces, we would actually only need 12," she said. "That could be taken care of if [the new teachers] park on the street. It's the best we can do."

Lorentz added that from a budgetary standpoint, there is enough money in bond to cover the construction of a new lot, since the district has been successful in coming in under budget with projects to date.

Although seemingly most favorable, some concerns regarding the selection of option three did come up, particularly that of residents attempting to make a left-hand turn onto Conklin Street out of the parking lot. Board of Education Trustee Jane Rubinstein suggested that there be a curb cut exit designed in the lot, almost forcing drivers to turn right when exiting. This would eliminate the possibility of a serious accident from occurring if residents attempted to turn left.

While option three is most favorable to the administration, the board did not make a final decision at the Feb. 6 meeting. Since construction of the new wing is still in progress, a decision is not an immediate necessity, but should be made in the near future. The school board agreed to further discuss the issue at future board meetings.