After nearly a year and a half of dead silence, Garden City Mayor Gerard Lundquist heard from railroad officials twice in December alone. First in early December to hastily set up a meeting in order to provide the village with a status report on the Main Line Corridor Improvements Project. Mayor Lundquist, along with Village Administrator Robert Schoelle, agreed to the Dec. 5 meeting in which they learned the LIRR - since hearing much opposition to its original proposal - downscaled their third track megaproject.

LIRR officials said the project changes are a response to the many objections Garden City, and its sister villages, raised regarding the detrimental effects another track would create. As a result, the LIRR and its consultant team - DMJM+Harris - have been developing alignment alternatives to minimize the effects of such a large scale project, Raymond Kenny, acting LIRR president, stated in a Dec. 26 letter to Mayor Lundquist. Kenny added that the LIRR has also been working closely with the New York State Department of Transportation to develop and refine the grade crossing alternatives as well.

Within Garden City's borders, it is estimated that "approximately seven parcels" would be impacted: four for the alignment, plus an additional three parcels for the grade separation of New Hyde Park Road. Of the seven properties that could be impacted, one is commercial and the remaining six are vacant, village-owned land. "No property from homeowners is impacted by these plans," Kenny assured.

The LIRR intends to work with all affected villages along the Main Line in order to address their concerns during the remainder of the EIS (Environmental Impact Statement) process, including Mayor Lundquist's questions regarding the New Hyde Park Road grade crossing elimination. Kenny said the LIRR, since hearing of the mayor's concern at the Dec. 5 meeting, has performed further analysis over the past few weeks and arrived at the following suggestions:

Because New Hyde Park Road will go under the Main Line tracks, traffic signals could be provided at the intersections of New Hyde Park Road and 4th Avenue, New Hyde Park Road and Clinch Avenue and New Hyde Park Road and Plaza Avenue. "The signals would be coordinated in order to keep the flow of traffic moving on New Hyde Park Road," Kenny assured in the Dec. 26 letter.

The LIRR's proposed alternative no longer includes an intersection at New Hyde Park Road and Second Avenue, which was the site for a possible fourth signalized intersection. Moreover, there will be a stop sign on the realigned Hathaway Drive, at the new intersection of Hathaway Drive and Clinch Avenue, Kenny further stated in the letter.

The configuration of the New Hyde Park Road grade separation is expected to make use of the Hathaway Drive/Greenwich Avenue rotary as a staging area. Mayor Lundquist, however, told LIRR officials that this plan is "disruptive to the local community; less attractive." They've come up with certain techniques to mitigate Garden City's concerns:

LIRR officials intend to move the New Hyde Park station's south platform to the west, making it a further walk to Clinch Avenue and Hathaway Drive; provide access to the west side of New Hyde Park Road from the south platform - a new stairway would be provided from station platforms only to the sidewalk on the west side. No access would be provided over the road or to a sidewalk on the east side; provide "kiss and ride" spaces in New Hyde Park - short-term parking spaces along 3rd Avenue in New Hyde Park could be provided; and prohibit using Clinch Avenue or Hathaway Drive as an unofficial "kiss and ride" area - the northbound lanes of Clinch Avenue at New Hyde Park Road will not provide room for standing vehicles. The Hathaway Drive extension could be eliminated from the concept, Kenny wrote, assigned as a one-way street or designed narrow enough to prevent vehicles from standing.

Mayor Lundquist and residents alike are further concerned that the installed track will be 14 feet closer to properties located on the south side of the Main Line. The LIRR, according to Kenny, is willing to meet with village officials and Garden City residents to show them mitigation possibilities like landscaping and retaining walls.

Floral Park Trustee Thomas Tweedy, chair of that village's Third Track Task Force, who also had the opportunity to meet with railroad representatives last month, noted the preliminary proposal in nearby Floral Park provides for the construction of a continuous retaining wall.

"This wall will be built beyond the track and train clearances. In other words, the trains will not ride upon the retaining wall but rather within a wall with a parapet. The retaining wall will be extended upward some four to five feet higher than the tracks. This detail will provide both a visual/safety barrier at the bottom of the trains as well as a sound attenuation/baffling wall," Tweedy explained.

Officials in Garden City, along with those from its sister villages of Bellerose, Floral Park, Mineola, etc., remain cautiously optimistic about these latest developments and will keep a close eye on things as LIRR officials further investigate the possibility of these changes.

"It's not written in stone. Lots of things are not firmed up yet. They don't have any engineered drawings; everything's preliminary at this time," Mayor Lundquist told residents, adding that he suggested to Kenny that LIRR officials come to a joint town meeting with neighboring communities like Bellerose and Floral Park to present their latest findings. "We're going to put the pressure on them to meet," he said.

Kathleen Auro, who lives on Merillon Avenue, feet away from the Nassau Boulevard station, said to her it sounded like LIRR officials were doing nothing but "dividing hairs." "Sounds like they talk with forked tongues," she told trustees.

Floral Park's Tweedy, who believes these changes are favorable, still isn't sold on the entire project: "At this time, the LIRR's engineering group is very short on design/construction specifics and, as we all know, the devil is in the details," he said.

Nearby Bellerose Village Mayor Donna Sherrer agreed. "While it is a positive milestone, I must caution that it is only a briefing and a proposal." She vows to continue her work with Floral Park, Stewart Manor, Garden City, Mineola and the other Main Line communities to "continue to fight for the quality of life we invest in and take pride in."

Once the LIRR submits its Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) to the Federal Transportation Authority, there will be another opportunity for public review and comments. This commenting period is scheduled sometime between September and December of 2007.