It's hard to believe that, after years of debate and controversy, a solution to the abandoned Alva T. Stanforth (ATS) Junior High School Property on Hempstead Turnpike in Elmont may be less than a month away.

On January 21, residents of the Sewanhaka Central High School District will be going to the polls to decide on whether the district should sell approximately 3.745 acres of the ATS property to the Elmont Public Library. Residents of the Elmont School District will then vote on whether to build a new library on the site at a cost of $14.5 million. Both referendums must pass in order to become a reality.

If Elmont residents are willing to absorb the cost of the new library, the project may very well happen. There don't appear to be any negatives to residents of Franklin Square, Floral Park and New Hyde Park, the other communities in the Sewanhaka School District, since the Sewanhaka District will be gaining $2,146,000. In addition, Elmont will absorb the costs of demolishing the dilapidated building excluding a portion of the auditorium, which will be used by the library, and constructing a new driveway and parking area for the athletic fields on the property, which will still be used by the Sewanhaka Central High School District.

After years of debated uses for the property, it finally looks as though a solution that will satisfy four distinct communities of Elmont, Franklin Square, Floral Park and New Hyde Park may have been found.

In order to appreciate how difficult is has been to come up with a solution to the ATS property, a look back at its controversial past may put it into perspective.

1954 - Voters from Elmont, Franklin Square, and New Hyde Park approve a $15.5 million referendum to build five schools - Elmont Memorial High School, H. Frank Carey High School, Floral Park Memorial High School and Alva T. Stanforth Junior High School. Sewanhaka High School had already been built in 1930.

1984-85 - The Alva T. Stanforth Junior High School is closed due to declining enrollment. Some believed the school was closed due to an initiative by the Floral Park community to withdraw from the Sewanhaka Central High School District. Although decentralization of the district never occurred, ATS closed. In a statement read at the January 28, 2003 meeting of the Sewanhaka Central High School District Board of Education meeting, trustee Aubrey Phillips, who also sits on the Elmont Board of Education, stated that declining student enrollment and building utilization was nothing more than a smoke screen designed by Floral Park and executed by the Sewanhaka Central High School District Board. The statement suggests that ATS closed due to declining enrollment because Floral Park no longer wanted their students to attend the school.

1989 - The Sewanhaka Central High School District plans to sell the ATS property to a builder who would turn the property into a shopping mall and community center, according to the district. However, the referendum was defeated by voters.

1992 - The Alva T. Stanforth Junior High School Subcommittee, comprised of eight community members formed to evaluate potential uses for the site, made its report and recommendation to the Sewanhaka Central High School District in June 1992.

In a letter dated December 14, 1992, the Nassau County Department of Health advised the Sewanhaka Central High School District that Stanforth's existing 3,000 gallon above-ground fuel tank was not in compliance with the county's public health ordinance.

1993 - At the board of education meeting on January 13, 1993, the board adopted the building directors recommendation to winterize the building. The ATS Subcommittee sent a letter to the district in which it expressed concern over the decision to winterize and asked that the decision be rescinded. The work was completed on February 12, 1993.

1998 - An appeal to overturn the board's decision to winterize ATS was denied by the New York State Education Department. The appeal was launched by community leader Rita Mezzapelle.

Also in 1998, the Sewanhaka Board of Education signed a contract to sell ATS to the Elmont Union Free School District for $3 million to solve the problem of overcrowding in the Elmont School District. Elmont gave the Sewanhaka District a deposit of $100,000 and a vote on the referendum was scheduled for September 24, 1998.

However, in the minutes of the July 28, 1998 Elmont Board of Education meeting, it states that preliminary engineering assessments of the building's condition were received in April 1998 and the results were disturbing. It further stated that the cost of renovation had doubled from 1995, rising from $7 million to $14 million. The reports also showed the existence of significant structural problems.

The Elmont School District decided not to go ahead with the sale and the vote was canceled. The Sewanhaka Board returned $85,722, the balance of the $100,000 deposit, to the Elmont Board.

The Sewanhaka Board then issued a statement, "The Myth of ATS: Elmont's Taj Mahal on the Turnpike." In the statement, the Sewanhaka Board maintains the cost of renovation for ATS would be $8 million and accused the Elmont Board of trying to build a Taj Mahal. The statement said that the Elmont Board wanted to make ATS the only elementary building in Elmont and possibly New York State with central air conditioning, a state-of-the-art theater complex and fully wired for Internet and all computer services. The statement also said that the Elmont Board "smeared the character and reputation of the Sewanhaka Board of Education."

The Elmont School District would later solve the problem of overcrowding in its schools by passing a bond referendum to add extensions on to the elementary schools. The ATS building remained vacant.

1999 - The Sewanhaka Board of Education schedules meeting in each of the component communities to try to discuss possible solutions to the site. An organization called People for the Preservation of ATS urged the Sewanhaka Board to reopen ATS for educational use. The Sewanhaka Board, claiming there is no longer a need for ATS as an educational building, presented four plans to develop the ATS property as mostly an athletic facility. One plan though called for district administration offices to move to ATS and another plan called for a multi-purpose building, district storage and community facilities. None of the plans were ever voted on.

2003 - After discussions to sell the property never materialized, the Sewanhaka Board voted 5-3 to demolish the building and develop the athletic fields.

The Elmont Public Library expressed interest in buying a portion of the property for the purpose of building a new library. In August, the Sewanhaka Board voted unanimously to sell a portion of the property to the Elmont Public Library. A referendum with two propositions is set for January 21, 2004.