Change in plans for redevelopment near Hicksville LIRR station

The long-delayed redevelopment around the Hicksville train station has taken a step forward with an apparent agreement between the Long Island Rail Road and the town of Oyster Bay.

The agreement would give the town access to LIRR-owned property around the station so the town could build a pedestrian walkway and expanded park, according to a copy of a memorandum of understanding provided by the town. An MTA spokesman wrote in an email Friday that the agreement is being finalized.

"From expanded park space to beautification projects and a new, safe pedestrian walkway, we are improving the downtown and helping to attract new housing opportunities, restaurants, shops and office space," Town Supervisor Joseph Saladino said in a news release issued Thursday.

The proposed open space is a scaled-back version of a plan designed under a state grant to reimagine Hicksville by moving street-level parking into parking garages and converting the parking lots into open space and an entrance into the station. The plan hinged on the construction of four multistory parking garages on West Barclay Street to free up land, with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority building 1,100 of the 2,156 parking spaces, though no grant money was set aside for new parking.

The town and the MTA failed to agree upon a parking plan, and last year the town submitted a revised proposal to the state that assumed the garages wouldn’t be built. In the new agreement, the town and the LIRR acknowledge that the garages won’t be built but state that the parties "intend to continue working together to evaluate future parking and station access needs at the station and such needs might be addressed."

The state approved grant funding for four projects, with funding for other projects to come from other sources. The town's revised proposal would redirect most of the state funding.

The town is seeking state funding for a scaled-down version of an expansion of John F. Kennedy Memorial Park. As originally conceived, the expanded park would have closed streets and connected to a new Festival Plaza. The revised plan would expand the park onto parking spaces directly to the south without closing off streets. Festival Plaza, in the revised plan, is described in town documents as the Festival Plaza Pathway. Where Festival Plaza was designed to replace an entire parking lot, the pathway would preserve some of the parking and add plants and places to sit.

The revised plan also seeks funding for the "Underline," which would redesign the underside of the elevated train track to include colorful LED lighting and could host pop-up shops and outdoor cafes.

The memorandum states that it depends on New York State approving the revised plan, which was submitted in February 2021. In a statement Friday, the New York State Department of State said it would continue working with the town to implement "the vision and goals of the [Downtown Revitalization Initiative] and associated projects."

In 2017, the state awarded the town a $10 million grant that included the cost of designing a plan to revitalize the downtown as a walkable community after a series of public input sessions.