Lake Success could get stop signs by EMS station project site 

The Town of North Hempstead may add two stop signs to a Lake Success intersection that residents cited as a traffic concern after the Manhasset-Lakeville Fire District last year proposed building an ambulance station down the block.

Voters approved $10 million in bonding for the project in a special election in October, following objections from some opponents who said the sharp intersection at Cumberland Avenue and Allen Drive could become more dangerous with a new station nearby.

The town board will hold a public hearing on the stop sign proposal on April 9 at 10 a.m. One of the stop signs would go up on eastbound Cumberland Avenue and the other would be on southbound Allen Drive.

Fire district commissioner Mark Sauvigne said in an interview that the volunteer firefighting and EMS outfit is waiting for Lake Success village officials to approve building plans before soliciting construction bids for the 10,366-square-foot facility that is slated for Cumberland Avenue. 

Before the special election, a 51-page study the fire district funded addressed the traffic issue. Engineers recommended adding stop signs, clearing vegetation that could block drivers' views and replacing damaged guiderails at the end of Cumberland Avenue.

The fire district pushed the referendum from June to October to make time for the study, before the bonding measure passed by a vote of 490-410.

The election raised some controversy, with North Shore NAACP vice president Desiree Woodson saying that day that a “good amount” of voters, mostly people of color, left polling places without casting ballots after being told they were at the wrong polling station or not on voter rolls.

But Woodson said in an interview Monday the NAACP and some concerned residents decided not to pursue the matter further after consulting with election officials and legal counsel.

North Hempstead Councilwoman Christine Liu said Woodbury-based Cameron Engineering, which did the traffic study for the fire district, recommended the stop sign installations to the town last year.

“Our traffic engineer went out to look at it and he agreed,” she added.

Lake Success resident Adrienne Vaultz, 66, said drivers looking to escape busy streets like Lakeville Road and Community Drive often use the intersection as a short cut.

She said she welcomes the proposal for stop signs, but isn't sure such measures would make a difference.

“It has become a cut-through and people blow … stop signs all the time,” Vaultz said. 

She added that police enforcement has helped in the past, but only as a short-term solution.

Sauvigne noted the traffic study recommended the stop signs and said he supports anything that increases safety.

The first district hopes to break ground on the project this year, according to the commissioner.