Deer Park resident pressures town for more sidewalks

A Deer Park resident is trying to put public pressure on Babylon Town to install sidewalks in her community, saying future development is dependent on keeping pedestrians and bicyclists safe.

Patricia Burkhart, president of the nonprofit Friends of Edgewood Preserve, spoke out about the issue during Tuesday's town board meeting.

"Long Island is famous for these sidewalks to nowhere," Burkhart said before the meeting, referring to sidewalks that end mid-street. "If Suffolk County is going to move forward and be a walkable community, a livable community, this part of Deer Park is not. It's very dangerous."

Burkhart said she is fighting to get sidewalks along Long Island Avenue running east from Commack Road to the Deer Park Long Island Rail Road station. Burkhart said she has been asking Supervisor Steve Bellone about sidewalks for more than a year.

Burkhart called Long Island Avenue, which has the preserve on the north side and an industrial area on the south, an "extremely hostile road" and "a dumping ground" that is "the armpit of Deer Park."

Suffolk County has a long-standing reputation as being unfriendly to pedestrians and bicyclists. According to the nonprofit Tri-State Transportation Campaign, 91 pedestrians were killed in Suffolk from 2006 to 2008. In Babylon, there were 17 pedestrian and cyclist fatalities in that period, they said.

In July, the town adopted a resolution making it the first municipality on Long Island to have a "complete streets" policy, with the aim of making the town's roadways more connected and accommodating to pedestrians, bicyclists and the handicapped. Last night, Burkhart commended the town on taking the lead on this issue but said Long Island Avenue needs to be a priority in its master plan.

Town spokesman Tim Ruggeri said that while Long Island Avenue is a town road, the town's policy is to have property owners or developers install sidewalks. The property owners are the state on the north side of the road and the county on the south side, he said.

If the town does any repaving of the road, he said, they would study the sidewalks and bike paths as part of its complete streets plan. Ruggeri said only 20 percent of the town's streets have sidewalks.

After the meeting, Bellone said the town is hiring a consultant to do a complete streets analysis. "We want to make sure we have the right priorities in place," he said.

Burkhart suggested the town create a volunteer citizen advisory council, comprised of members appointed by the supervisor as well as other citizens and representatives from cycling groups. "If one cannot walk or bike safely to a town's train station, then complete streets has already failed," she said.

Also speaking at last night's meeting was a group who supported the Farmingdale Wal-Mart's planned expansion to a supercenter.

Phil Serghini, a Walmart spokesman, said the store has waited more than a year and a half to hear back from the town on its request to expand by 59,000 square feet onto an empty parcel it owns on the south side of the store. He said the expansion would bring 85 permanent jobs and 100 construction jobs. Serghini called the delay "highly unusual," saying it was "an effort to stymie development."

The group, including representatives from the local electricians union, presented board members with the signatures of 2,000 residents supporting the expansion.

Bellone said he would check with the planning department about the application.