A new Carle Place train station, very much a part of the proposed development of the Nassau Hub into a 21st Century suburban center, is still very much alive, according to a prime mover behind the project.

The proposed station, which would replace an existing station and would be about a quarter mile closer to the intersection of Old Country and Glen Cove Roads, has been a point of controversy in Carle Place ever since the plan to build it first came to light in January.

Once built, it would eventually link the Long Island Rail Road to a fixed guide-rail 'people mover' system serving the Roosevelt Field and Source Malls, the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, and other destinations within the Hub.

So aggrieved were local residents by the proposal -- which, they quickly pointed out, didn't even take into account the fact that the proposed site for the station is occupied by two active wells belonging to the Carle Place Water District -- that the Carle Place Civic Association circulated a petition against it.

That petition, containing hundreds of signatures, was ultimately forwarded to County Executive Thomas S. Gulotta, with copies sent to various county legislators.

When Larry Zaino, president of the civic association, ran into Gulotta at a subsequent local high school awards night, the two had a brief conversation about the petition and the ongoing controversy.

"Basically, the county executive told me we never had to circulate the petition, because the train station was a dead issue," Zaino recalled.

"He's wrong," an angry Mort Certilman said when told of what the county executive had reportedly told the civic president.

"The proposal to build a new railroad station in Carle Place to link to the Hub is not a dead issue," he continued. "It's simply one that has not been addressed at this time.

"Nothing regarding the transit aspect of the Hub has been addressed in the past 30 to 45 days."

But it wasn't the public outcry that quieted talk of the new station, the elevated monorail system, or the enhanced bus routes that have been proposed to serve and bind together the densely developed Hub at the county's center.

Rather, according to Certilman, it was that two key pieces of the over-all Hub puzzle had yet to fall into place.

"One reason was that we've done all the work we can do until we finalize what's to be done on the 70-acre parcel of land surrounding the Nassau Coliseum," the influential attorney explained.

"The other factor was funding. Until we secured funding, we were kind of dead in the water in regard to implementing what is a very expensive plan.

"Fortunately, Senator Alphonse D'Amato was recently able to stick a provision in to get us up to $10 million in ISTEA funds."

ISTEA is an acronym for the Intermodal Surface Transportation Act.

After word of Certilman's flare-up reached the county executive's office, Tom Gulotta issued the following statement:

"The proper development of the Nassau Hub is the lynchpin of Nassau County's future economic vitality and identity.

"The current plans for the Hub include a new, multi-faceted sports complex designed to meet the needs of the Islanders and other sports franchises, a convention/exhibition center and a new hotel to accommodate visitors.

"The Hub will be connected to academic, retail, recreational and governmental facilities in the area by a people mover system to eliminate traffic congestion.

"The configuration of the Hub will be a plan that is achieved after much community input. The Hub is designed to benefit all of Nassau's taxpayers, homeowners, and businesses.

"It is our objective to develop a plan that meets community needs and concerns."

Just as all this was going on, the Nassau County Planning Commission released the draft version of the Comprehensive Master Plan for the municipality.

The Master Plan, the preparation and regular update of which is mandated by the revised county charter, must be adopted by the legislature by the end of 1998, also by mandate of the charter.

Among its policy recommendations is that the county "support initiatives to improve transportation in the Nassau Hub area, including the development of new mass transit services, pedestrian improvements, and provision of better transportation linkages between different land uses."

That the County Planning Commission should espouse a philosophy so in keeping with the philosophy that inspired the Nassau Hub concept is no surprise -- the agencies funded both studies.

What might surprise those Carle Place residents who thought at least the train station portion of the plan dead, is that recommendations from the Nassau Hub Study will be added to the comprehensive Master Plan before the report is finalized, presumably sometime this summer -- this according to a notation in the draft of the Master Plan.

"What troubles me is that we're inaccurately portrayed as NIMBYs," Larry Zaino said.

"Whenever someone starts talking about the Hub, I immediately think of my neighbor, Joe Carbello.

"He's only recently moved to Carle Place and you know what he said to me? He said, 'I moved here to get away from a large transportation systems, among other things... and now I hear this [the Hub plan].'

"Joe's gotten very actively involved in our civic, and now I'm beginning to believe that he'll very likely move again in search of suburbia.

"He moved to Nassau to get out of Queens, only to find that he'll soon live in a place that's evolving to be very much like Queens, again.

"Aside from potentially losing good neighbors like Joe Carbello, it seems to me what we are talking about is lining the pockets of the businessmen at our expense," Zaino continued.

"Clearly, this people mover system they're talking about will bring more crime to the area... and at the same time, the buses they have now operate at close to a $35 million deficit. Can you imagine the deficit the people mover will run on?

"Many of our civics' members point out that we in Carle Place really gain no benefit, financial or otherwise, from the development of the Hub at our border. But I'm not so sure that even if we did, our position on this station would be much different.

"There are just too many other costs involved," Zaino said.