The message was loud and clear. Residents living along the Long Island Rail Road's (LIRR) 11.5-mile Main Line Corridor do not - under any circumstance - want a third - or fourth or fifth - track installed. They do however, welcome the elimination of on-grade crossings in New Hyde Park (Covert Avenue, 12th Street and New Hyde Park Road), Westbury (School Street) and New Cassel (Urban Avenue) and believe that phase of the LIRR's highly controversial Main Line Corridor Improvements Project should be tackled now.

In order to collect input from local communities for an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), the LIRR held scoping meetings June 14 at Jericho Terrace in Mineola, June 16 at Floral Terrace in Floral Park and June 21 at Antun's in Hicksville. Residents and elected officials alike - from several of the nine villages to be affected by the mega project - urged that the MTA/LIRR derail the third track proposal altogether.

Garden City Village Clerk Brian Ridgway attended the 4-6 p.m. June 14 session along with Eastern Property Owners' Association (POA) President Robert Stark Jr. and Western POA President John Traxler. At the June 16 board meeting, Trustee Nick Episcopia, liaison to the Environmental Advisory Board (EAB), urged fellow trustees to take a stand against the third track proposal in a show of support for Garden City's neighbors to the west, namely Floral Park and Bellerose.

"Everyone I've had any communication with in the Eastern POA and other people that we've discussed this with - other trustees, other members of the POAs, especially in the West and Estates - really feel that this is going to be a tremendous disruption to the quality of life in Garden City," Episcopia said.

"Our neighbors to the west, particularly Floral Park and Bellerose Village, are absolutely up in arms about this and rightly so. They have contacted us ... and they've requested that we get involved with them in the process of attempting to turn back this project," he added.

Episcopia attended a meeting June 15 at Floral Park Village Hall with members of a committee Floral Park Mayor Phil Guarnieri created to form a unified front against the project. "They have a very ambitious plan to go after every legislator and say that this is not needed ... They approached me and asked what we officially plan on doing. I'm relatively convinced that no one in this village - or a very, very small percentage of people in our village - really are looking forward to this and they don't think it's absolutely necessary," Episcopia continued. "I would like some official show of support for our neighbors to the west because I think they have an excellent case. It's not just them, it's us, especially our residents that live in the West and Estates sections ... I think we should be up front and come out against this now..."

Although Village Counsel Gary Fishberg told trustees a resolution on the topic would have made a stronger statement, the board broke into executive session to further discuss the issue and later opted to write an official letter, signed by Mayor Gerard Lundquist, stating that the Village of Garden City opposes the installation of a third track but favors the elimination of various on-grade crossings for safety reasons. The letter was to be forwarded to the EAB, which was scheduled to meet June 20, the eve of the LIRR's final scoping meeting. As of press time, the letter was to be formally presented to LIRR officials at the June 21 meeting in Hicksville.

Merillon Avenue resident Kathy Auro appreciates the letter and admitted the number of Garden City residents either ignorant on the topic or just simply apathetic alarms her.

"I find there's a lot of division in our village. Each property owner group seems concerned with 'not in my backyard.' I think the village has to act as a unified mechanism - not the fact that it has to be Estates property owners or Western property owners that are concerned by this ... I'm glad that you, as mayor, are hopefully unifying the various groups in this village and come out against this third track."

The EIS will be prepared in 2006 while public hearings are slated for early 2007. The final EIS, which will document the elected course of action, is expected in the summer of 2007 with a record of decision anticipated later that year. Construction is not slated to begin until 2009, with an estimated project completion date sometime in 2016.

Many fear the increased running of freight along the Main Line is the underlying reason behind the possible third track installation, although Elisa Pica, LIRR's chief planning officer, assured otherwise. Others simply don't buy the projections that such an "improvement" will help accommodate increased ridership and reverse peak service, especially in light of the fact that increased fares recently went into effect to offset decreased ridership.

Moreover, people fear for their homes. As stated in the scoping document, prepared by DMJM Harris, the LIRR's environmental consultant, "some property acquisition may be necessary in order to construct a new continuous additional track and for some station area and roadway grade crossing improvements" although the LIRR anticipates that "most" of the Main Line Corridor proposed improvements could take place within the existing right-of-way.

Prior to a determination of which property must be acquired, analysis of the pros and cons of several approaches will be conducted as part of the evaluation of alternatives. County tax maps and data included in the project Geographic Information System (GIS) data set will be integral in assessing the approximate amount of land necessary for acquisition.

The scoping document further notes that property identified for acquisition, as part of the Draft EIS, may not ultimately be required in order to construct the project. Final decisions regarding property acquisition will be taken after the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) issues a Record of Decision (due out in late 2007). The final design of facilities will determine exact property needs and the needs will be verified with detailed survey data.

The area under study is one of the most densely traveled corridors in the region; it extends from Queens Village east to Hicksville. Stations in the corridor currently under evaluation include Queens Village, Bellerose, Floral Park, New Hyde Park, Merillon Avenue in Garden City, Mineola, Carle Place, Westbury and Hicksville.

The EIS will consider alternatives to meet passenger service needs - build alternatives and a no-build alternative will be evaluated. The build alternatives include different track alignments, including northern alignments, southern alignments and alignments that combine the two. LIRR officials to date have not made public which alignment is likely.

The no-build or "do nothing" alternative would eliminate construction of a third track as well as station and grade crossing improvements altogether. "This alternative will be used as a basis of comparison to understand the effects of the build alternatives," Pica noted.

The concept of adding another track to the Main Line is not new; talk has been circulating for years. Many suggest the MTA/LIRR take the money earmarked for the installation of an additional track and use it to begin eliminating the on-grade crossings.

Floral Park Mayor Phil Guarnieri has publicly spoken out against the proposal numerous times to reaffirm his village's strong opposition. "The so-called Main Line Improvements Project attempts to merge together the need for on-grade crossing eliminations with the unneeded construction of a third track," he said. "This erroneous linkage has led the public to become confused and misinformed. The on-grade elimination project is a completely separate item in the MTA's own budget. It also appears that the MTA will fund only part of the grade crossing eliminations, rather than shoulder the entire cost of the project."

Guarnieri continued, stating, "If the MTA is truly concerned about grade elimination, then it should be done before any part of the mega project takes place. I believe that the MTA/LIRR's real purpose is to add a third track to run more trains and spend taxpayers' money. While few in Floral Park oppose enhancing the region's transportation infrastructure, we believe it should not be done on the backs and in the backyards of our residents ... If the MTA has taxpayer dollars to spend in Floral Park, they should use them to improve the facilities we already have, which are either inadequate or in disrepair ... the MTA/LIRR has burdened Floral Park more than enough. On behalf of all the village residents and their neighbors who live near the railroad right-of-way from Queens Village to Hicksville, we ask that this project be given the burial it deserves."

Bellerose Village Mayor Donna Sherrer, who wore a C.A.R.E. (Citizens Against Rail Expansion) sticker, concurred, stating, "With all the studies being proposed, nobody is proposing a study on the quality of life, quality of community and quality of security that comes with living in a close knit well-established community ... There are times when being a visionary takes more than a plan and a study. One must seek out the human factors involved. I'm sure at the upcoming hearings you will hear from the hearts of residents from all communities involved. I only hope you seriously listen with your hearts and get a real pulse on how detrimental this proposed project will be to most communities along the Main Line Corridor."

Rosealeen Shea, co-chair of the Long Island Rail Road Committee in Bellerose Village, questioned the project's funding. "Floral Park Mayor Phil Guarnieri and State Senator Mike Balboni have their priorities right by urging the MTA/LIRR to undertake the elimination of grade crossings first and keep them completely separate from the third track mega project. The MTA/LIRR's own budget reveals that they are in fact two separate spending items," Shea said.

The grade crossings project is budgeted for $60.3 million in 2008 and another $20 million in 2009. The third track project is budgeted for $4.5 million in 2007 and another $117.8 million in 2009, Shea further noted. "In addition, the MTA/LIRR is only budgeting for its share of spending for the three grade crossing eliminations in the New Hyde Park vicinity. If funding gets tight, or if no other arm of government comes up with any missing portions for these grade elimination projects, there's no guarantee that the project's handful of grade crossings will in fact be eliminated," Shea continued, pointing out an even greater concern.

"The MTA/LIRR only budgeted for Phase I, with its construction impacting neighborhoods from eastern Queens to Mineola, while Phase II, which targets Mineola to Hicksville, is not yet funded. Communities within the Phase I construction zone face the possibility that - despite being asked to endure years of construction, including the destruction of greenery and the condemnation of property - there is no lock box guarantee that Phase II from Mineola to Hicksville will ever be completed. The MTA/LIRR must focus on taking care of the facilities it has now rather than continuing to spend our taxpayers' dollars with such irrational exuberance," she said.

John Kennedy, president of the Nassau-Suffolk Building Trades Council, which represents over 60,000 construction workers, was the sole speaker June 14 who urged the MTA/LIRR to move the project forward. "Our members and their families are not only interested in the jobs that this proposed project will offer them but the reliable, clean source of transportation that will be available on Long Island now and in the future ... The dollars spent on this project that will employ our members will be returned to this region three times over ... Building at this time is an investment that makes economic sense."

Some residents found the LIRR's presentation insulting, stating that all the information could have been easily found on the MTA/LIRR's website. Many became clearly frustrated that no definitive information was ever provided. They'll have to wait for written responses from the MTA/LIRR, which will be provided after the comment period officially closes Aug. 31, nearly two months from now.

Comments from all three scoping meetings will be entered into a project record. Additional comments can be submitted in writing to Peter Palamaro, LIRR Public Affairs, Jamaica Station, 1131, Jamaica, NY 11435, prior to Aug. 31. Visit www.mta.info/mta/planning/mainline for more project information. Coverage of the June 21 LIRR scoping meeting in Hicksville will be included in next week's issue.