Long Island briefs

BROOKHAVEN

Buys to preserve land along Carmans River

The Brookhaven Town Board has approved the purchase of nearly 200 undeveloped acres in Yaphank as part of the Carmans River conservation plan.

Among the acquisitions is a planned joint purchase by the town and Suffolk County of 171 acres owned by developer AvalonBay Communities Inc. on the north side of Mill Road, near Doral Lane.

Brookhaven and county officials plan to split the $8.09 million price.

The town also has agreed to pay $1.43 million to buy a 17.35-acre property belonging to homeowners on Mill Road at Garden Lane.

The homeowners bought the land about 30 years ago to protect it from development, town officials said.

"The acquisition of more than 17 acres of land located on Mill Road in Yaphank represents the latest addition of properties which will remain forever wild and insure that the Carmans River remains one of the jewels of the Town of Brookhaven," Councilwoman Connie Kepert, who represents Yaphank, said in a statement.

Money for the purchases would come from a special fund to buy land in the fragile Carmans River watershed, which runs 10 miles from Middle Island to Great South Bay. The town board last year approved a plan to preserve land in the watershed by buying undeveloped properties and imposing more restrictive zoning along the river.

MERRICK

Resident-only train parking on agenda

Hempstead Town officials plan to consider reserving parking spaces exclusively for town residents at the Long Island Rail Road station in Merrick.

The Hempstead Town Board has scheduled a public hearing on the possibility of a resident-only permit-parking program at the Merrick station, which has more than 1,500 spaces. The meeting is planned for Feb. 18 during the board's 10:30 a.m. meeting in the Nathan L.H. Bennett Pavilion, adjacent to Hempstead Town Hall, at 1 Washington St.

The hearing was originally scheduled for Nov. 13, 2012, but was adjourned after superstorm Sandy greatly affected the town.

The hearing will consider revising public parking fields in Merrick to add one stop sign, one sign with a 12-hour time limit, three commuter parking field resident permit signs enforceable from 6 a.m. to 1 p.m., except Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, and 10 commuter parking field resident permit required signs.

Community leaders had been asking town officials for several years to implement permit parking at the Merrick and Bellmore train stations.

The town unveiled a new resident-only pilot permit-parking program at the Bellmore station in September 2012. Officials reserved 227 out of 1,833 spaces for town residents with permits.

Under the proposed Merrick program, which is identical to Bellmore's, a parking sticker issued by the town clerk's office would cost $3 a year and allow resident commuters to park in spaces reserved for permit parking.

Parking without a permit in a restricted lot could result in a $120 fine.

MELVILLE

Golden Arches may spring up on Rte. 110

McDonald's USA LLC is seeking to open a 4,388-square-foot drive-through restaurant on part of an empty lot on Route 110 in Melville.

The company has an application before the Huntington Zoning Board of Appeals seeking a parking variance, variances for the property, number and size of signs, and a special use permit to build a drive-through restaurant.

The roughly 2.4-acre parcel is owned by Farmingdale-based FMP Holdings LLC. The 71-seat restaurant would have two side-by-side drive-through lanes and would be built on slightly less than 60 percent of the lot. It's not yet clear what will be built on the other part of the parcel, said John C. Farrell, the attorney representing McDonald's USA LLC before the ZBA.

Town code requires 126 parking spaces for a building of the proposed project's use and size, but McDonald's USA LLC is asking for a variance to allow only 47, because most of the business will be drive-through. John Harter, a traffic expert for the company, said up to 70 percent of the restaurant's business during peak hours will go through the "unique" side-by-side drive-through lanes, so less parking is needed.

"If you look at older McDonald's, they may have 50 or more stalls, but now as we have gone forward in the last 10 years with this type of drive-through design, they are bringing the count way down. In some cases generally it's below 40 in most of the sites we are looking at, so 47 here is high for McDonald's," Harter said at a recent ZBA meeting.

RIVERHEAD

Board hustles to OK sewage plant project

Riverhead's Town Board had to fit in a special meeting before its regular work session Thursday, so it could vote on a $9 million upgrade to the town's sewage treatment plant in time to qualify for low-interest financing through the state Environmental Facilities Corporation.

"We couldn't wait for our regular meeting. This has to be in by the end of the month," Supervisor Sean Walter said.

The town is under a federal mandate to reduce nitrogen from the plant, which discharges wastewater into the Peconic River.

That project is expected to cost $23.5 million, but with grants and other revenue, the town's cost will be $8.96 million.

Walter said the state can get lower interest rates than the town on bonds needed to pay for the work. The exact interest rates will not be known until the bonds are actually sold by the Environmental Facilities Corporation.

OYSTER BAY

Settlement in crash, death of woman, 85

Oyster Bay has agreed to pay $172,500 to settle a wrongful-death suit stemming from a 2010 car accident involving a town worker.

The estate of Shirley Singer alleged in a suit filed in 2011 in State Supreme Court in Mineola that the driver of a town-owned utility truck ran a red light and smashed into Singer's car in Jericho. The force of the crash pushed her car into a utility pole on Columbia Drive and Broadway.

Singer, who was 85 and lived in Jericho, suffered injuries that required surgery, including fractured ribs and vertebrae, according to Michael Della, an attorney with Gruenberg Kelly Della P.C. of Ronkonkoma, which brought the suit on behalf of her son, Scott Singer.

Four weeks after the accident, she fell down stairs and was further injured and died three months later, Della said. The suit also alleged she suffered pain and suffering as a result of the accident. Her husband, Alvin, died the next year.

Della said the case hinged on testimony of an eyewitness who was no longer in Oyster Bay and was flown in from Florida. The town contended that the driver had not run the red light. Deputy town attorney Jeffrey Ehrlich said it was a case of "conflicting recollections" and that settling was better than leaving the outcome to a jury.

The town board approved the payment at its board meeting, held at 3:07 a.m. Wednesday after an eight-hour public hearing.

FREEPORT

Gun group gets grant to upgrade facilities

State officials Thursday awarded 13 shooting ranges, including one in Freeport, with a total of $135,000 to revitalize their facilities, as well as promote safe handling of firearms.

The Freeport Revolver and Rifle Assocation was awarded $15,000 to improve drainage at one of its outdoor ranges and to comply with Americans with Disabilities Act regulations, according to a news release from the state Department of Environmental Conservation.

"Ranges are key outlets to help develop necessary firearms and archery skills to promote the responsible use of equipment before heading out to the field," DEC Commissioner Joe Martens said.

The funding is part of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's initiative to promote fishing and hunting and was done in cooperation with Cornell University Cooperative Extension of Saratoga County. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service also helped with funding.

Ranges that secured grants provided a 25 percent match.

More information can be found at www.dec.ny.gov.

ISLAND PARK

Cibro site cleanup open for comment

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation is seeking public comment through March 15 on a proposed remedy for groundwater and soil contamination at the former Cibro Petroleum terminal site in Island Park.

The 11.6-acre site, at 7 Washington Ave. in the Harbor Isle section of the village, was used as a petroleum storage facility from the 1940s through 1988, when it was closed and related infrastructure, including tanks and truck racks, was removed over two years. The site's past use resulted in petroleum contamination to the soil and groundwater, but the site does not pose a significant threat to public health or the environment, according to a DEC report.

The proposed remedy includes the removal and treatment of affected soil in a soil wash plant.

The remediation would be conducted under the state's Brownfield Cleanup Program, which allows the applicant to be eligible for tax credits to help offset the costs of cleanup and redevelopment of the site.

A plan from Farmingdale-based Posillico Development LLC to turn the site into a $90 million, 172-unit housing development with a combination of luxury apartments and condos was denied by the Hempstead Town Board in November after it received mixed reaction from Island Park residents.

Project documents are available at the Island Park Public Library and at the DEC's regional office in Stony Brook.

SHIRLEY

Floyd pupils show off their Olympic spirit

Fifth-grader Lucas Podstupka, wearing a red T-shirt with a Swiss white cross on it to represent that country's flag, joined his William Floyd Elementary School classmates in a Russian folk dance, linking arms and twirling about.

To coincide with the opening ceremonies of the XXII Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia, students at the Shirley school on Friday celebrated through singing, dancing and parading through their gymnasium.

"We learned the Olympic Creed in school," said Lucas, 10, of Shirley.

"I learned that if you try your hardest you can conquer all your goals. Someday I'll go to the Olympics."

To experience the spirit of the games, students -- representing nations at this year's Olympics -- marched into the school's gymnasium holding banners and flags during their own "Parade of Nations," jump-starting their school's "opening ceremony."

The school's principal, Keith Fasciana, said the school held its first Olympic celebration for the Vancouver games four years ago, but wanted to make this year's bigger and better. Some 750 students participated.

It was announced during the ceremony that Lucas won the school's essay contest, in which students wrote their own Olympic Creed. He recited his on Friday, noting the "journey of how one gets to where they are today."

Snowboarder Joseph Mensch, a former William Floyd student and 2014 Winter Olympics hopeful who fell short of qualifying, presented the students with one of his snowboards and offered insight into the games.

After nearly a month of handing off a handmade Olympic torch from student to student throughout the school, the torch relay culminated in students "lighting" their own Olympic cauldron -- fitted with a light, fan and loose sheet for the perfect faux flickering flame.

EAST SETAUKET

Sheepskins won't cost dad too much

Franco Frantellizzi feels like he won the tuition lottery.

The Stony Brook resident shipped his son Peter off to school four years ago, and he graduates this year from Binghamton University, which Franco Frantellizzi described as "a great school, and . . . it's relatively cheap."

What's better than cheap? How about free?

His daughter, Elaina, was presented with the Queens University of Charlotte's Presidential Scholarship, the school's highest scholarship honor, when she showed up at Ward Melville High School on Friday. The senior will receive full tuition to the North Carolina school, worth about $120,000.

Of the 330 students from across the country who submitted scholarship applications, only seven were chosen.

Elaina heads to Charlotte this fall, prepared for her first step toward a nursing career. "It's kind of perfect, I couldn't be happier about this," she said. "I don't know many people who know what to do at this age, but I've known for awhile."

Elaina applied to schools that offered both a nursing program and a chance to play softball, which she did at Ward Melville.

Elaina said she will get a chance to play on the team.

As for her father, two kids will only cost him one state school tuition. "I'm overjoyed," he said.