By Jaime L. Tomeo

As part of his community bus tour in June, Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi held a public meeting with Levittown residents, outlining his vision of development of a "New Suburbia."

In a letter sent to Levittown, East Meadow and Salisbury residents informing them about the meeting, Suozzi mentioned planning the future of Nassau County. The letter stated Suozzi's administration had drafted an Economic Development Plan that divides the county into 35 development areas.

Prior to the meeting, the tour bus passed by Polaris Field and two storm basins [sumps] in the Island Trees section of Levittown. The condition of these parcels became the topic of discussion between the county executive and Councilman Gary Hudes and Legislator Dennis Dunne. Hudes explained that Polaris Field, which is the only county-owned field in Levittown, is run-down and not kept up to the same standards as the town fields.

"Suozzi said he does not believe in having fields like this as county fields, Hudes said. "He wants more regional fields where they can serve an entire area. When we passed the sumps he saw this as a big, expansive property and suggested 'wouldn't this be a great location for workforce housing'."

According to Hudes, it was at that point Hudes said both he and Dunne voiced their opposition to the idea, stating that is not what these sumps were meant for.

"We should not be looking to use every piece of open space to build upon," Hudes said. "These open spaces were put there for a reason by Mr. Levitt and they should be maintained in that state."

Ian R. Siegel, special assistant to the county executive further explained the purpose of these bus tours. He said Suozzi's statements made on these bus tours should be looked at as brainstorming sessions.

"It doesn't mean that it is something he is going to do," Siegel said. "He is just discussing options with the community. Anything that he suggests will not make it into the final, master plan for the county if the residents don't want it."

When questioned about the county's plan for these parcels on Polaris Drive Siegel said that "as of right now, there are absolutely no development plans and no land purchase requests or transfers regarding anything with Polaris Field."

The only future plans for the area include the possibility of pursuing a transfer of jurisdiction of the Polaris Field park. However, he also said that if the town does not want ownership, that will not happen.

"These small, little fields are hard for us to maintain and the town does a better job of maintaining them," Siegel said.

New Suburbia was first mentioned back in March, when Suozzi made his State of the County Address, referring to it as "an idea that marries the dream of the white picket fence, single family homes, a baseball field down the street, low crime, low unemployment, and local control, with a new vision for growth in selected areas that improves the quality of life, pays for government services, strengthens communities and addresses traffic congestion."

Suozzi further presented the concept by discussing the need for affordable housing for working families, senior citizens and young married couples.

Several members of the Levittown community approached Town of Hempstead Supervisor Kate Murray and Councilman Hudes about this issue, which prompted the two town officials to initiate a petition.

"We view any concept or proposal of this nature as ill-informed and detrimental to the community," their September letter to Levittown residents stated. "There is little open space in the area surrounding Polaris Field and the recharge basin. Building homes on the last remnants of green space in an area that is mature in its development is just plain wrong."

Polaris Drive resident Dale Bertan is also against the proposed development and also initiated a letter-writing campaign to the Suozzi administration.

"Our objective is to keep our block in tact," Bertan said in a July letter addressed to Suozzi. "No new buildings, no filling in of the sumps and no using the sumps for athletic fields or other purposes."

Suozzi administration answered Bertan with acknowledgement of the long-term issues broached. The letter stated they "will continue to work with community leaders and the Town of Hempstead to identify underutilized commercial properties and other parcels along Hempstead Turnpike and in other areas for redevelopment as workforce housing and senior housing." No mention of Polaris Drive was made in this letter.

Another Polaris Drive resident, Joann Fazziola held a meeting at her home two weeks ago. According to Fazziola, she and fellow neighbors are "extremely anxious about this." They began their own petition in addition to working with Murray and Hudes' administrations.

Other residents in the area, including those from Constellation and Bloomingdale Roads, packed the Island Trees board room last week at the school board meeting. While this is not directly a school district issue, Island Trees Superintendent Jim Parla said they would be affected in many ways.

"If they were to develop the field and the sump there and it falls within our school district, it could mean significant enrollment increases, which puts financial pressure on the budget," Parla said. "If it is targeting low-income, you are going to have high-needs kids that require lots of services and that's going to put a lot of pressure on our programs across the board."

He told meeting-goers that his administration would draft a letter to Thomas Maher, Nassau County's director of environmental coordination, expressing concerns about that if the county was to go forward with this plan it would have impact on programs, services and facilities provided by the school district.

"We want to keep our eye on this and we also want to voice that, before any plans are put forth, we certainly want to be apprised of what they're doing," Parla said.