Plainedge community center starts rising

Transformation of a vacant Plainedge middle school into a community center and athletic fields is under way after three years of planning.

The joint project by the Town of Oyster Bay and Plainedge school district took a giant step several weeks ago when a contractor hired by the town demolished the Sylvia Packard Middle School.

Now the district will build a community center for use by its residents, and the town will construct athletic fields to be used by Oyster Bay residents.

The community center, which will include a gym and a meeting room, should be completed by fall, Plainedge Superintendent Christine P'Simer said.

A multipurpose synthetic turf field, two baseball fields, a practice baseball diamond, playground and bathrooms should be completed by late fall, according to Richard Betz, the town commissioner of highways and acting public works commissioner.

The school at the intersection of North Idaho and North Virgina avenues and North Central Drive in unincorporated Oyster Bay closed in September 2004.

"We closed it because we built a new middle school on the north end of the district," P'Simer said. "It was getting too small for our district. We did make some efforts to rent it to different groups but were not successful."

The town and district had discussed a land swap in which the Robert E. Picken Town Hall South site on Hicksville Road in Massapequa was to be traded for the closed school, but the talks broke down in early 2008.

The town had proposed building a $22-million town hall complex with ballfields on the district's property. But the proposal met with resistance by nearby residents.

Ultimately, the district sold 5 acres of the property to the town for $5.5 million and retained 3 acres.

Constructing the community center is expected to cost $4.6 million. The remaining $900,000 will be added to the district's capital reserve, P'Simer said.

The town board in March approved a $4.1-million bid from The Landtek Group of Amityville to build the fields. Demolition of the school by the Gramercy Group of Westbury cost $2.73 million. The cleanup of the site should be completed by the end of the month.