It’s Everyone vs. The LIRR At Hearing

The Long-Islander News - September 6, 2003

By Brian Ferry

On August 27, the Huntington Town Board met with an assemblage of residents concerned with the MTA and LIRR's interest in creating an Environmental Impact Statement that would ultimately allow for the construction of an electric train storage, cleaning, and maintenance facility. It was the first time the town board addressed the public since meeting with LIRR Acting President James Dermody in a closed-door session on August 20.

"We were clear with him that we thought both sites were very problematic," Councilman Mark Cuthbertson said of the earlier meeting with Dermody. "He told us they're very much listening to public input at this point, and they will have their public meetings in the near future." Cuthbertson said that a LIRR public meeting may happen sometime this fall.

In the meantime, residents had to be satisfied with the town's meeting — a transcript of which is to be included in a package officials plan to send to the MTA and LIRR to represent the town's formal statement.

It was standing room only for the August 27 meeting. With a thick stack of yellow cards in hand representing the number of public speakers, Supervisor Frank Petrone opened the meeting by stating that the town board is unanimously opposed to a train facility in the town of Huntington.

Of the agencies' six remaining sites under consideration, two are within the geographical boundaries of the Town of Huntington. According to maps provided by the LIRR, site 2 is between the LIRR right-of-way (to the north) and East 5th Street in Huntington Station, and site 10 is between the LIRR right-of-way (to the south) and Pulaski Road, just west of Townline Road in East Northport. Another three areas, site 11 and two designated as site 12, are in the Kings Park / Commack area but remain within close proximity of East Northport residents.

Numerous local and state elected officials attended the public meeting. Assemblyman Steve Levy, who does not represent the area but is a Democratic candidate for Suffolk County Executive, was careful to say that he didn't condemn the LIRR outright, but had many questions to pose to their officials, such as whether or not the facility was definitely needed, whether or not the east-side access project involving Grand Central Station was definitely happening. He added that host communities should receive incentives should the facility be built in their communities.

Suffolk County Legislator Jon Cooper called the LIRR's interests "preposterous" because of the lack of open space. "I am here to say the MTA is wrong," he said.

"My opposition is not to the existence of a rail yard within the Town of Huntington. My opposition is to the placement of a rail yard within a softball's throw of a children's ball field," Cooper said. "My opposition is to the placement of a rail yard in the middle of a residential neighborhood that is already facing dramatic economic challenges."

State Assemblyman James Conte did not address the town board but did provide to The Long-Islander a copy of a letter that he sent to LIRR's Dermody.

"To me and many of the people I represent, site #2 has many fatally flawed weaknesses including: Size and layout: Terrain and geology; Traffic; and Conflicts with nearby properties," Conte's letter reads. "As you state in your April 30, 2003 letter: 'The community of Greenlawn is exempt because of a decision in 2000 by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority not to build in that area.' I firmly believe that all of the reasons not to build in Greenlawn apply to a site 1/2-mile away in Huntington Station."

Huntington Station resident Richard Rankin was among the first community members to address the town board. He also sent a letter to the newspaper with some of the questions he feels remain unanswered after all the meeting that have occurred already.

"The need for a train yard is obvious," he said at the meeting, going on to say, "the complaints are all real issues and perhaps they can be dealt with."

Mark Cuthbertson interjected between speakers to elaborate on one point. Alan Leon spoke of concern with the East Northport, Commack, and Kings Park impacts, and suggested that the necessary electrification of points east of Huntington Station would create all new traffic problems for commuters and residents alike. Cuthbertson said that Dermody made it clear at their meeting that the MTA and LIRR are in no financial position to purchase additional "switching" locomotives that could run on either electric or diesel power.

Manny Darwin, another Huntington Station resident, touched on many of the common issues that others have brought up in the past and will continue to bring up as long as their questions remain unanswered. These questions involve the amounts of noise pollution, the storage and use of chemicals and fuels, the gradient of the property, the use of lights, and more. However, Darwin also addressed a major concern regarding the Huntington Station site that no one else has directly made the connection with.

"The yard will virtually abut Manor Field with its tennis courts, baseball field, children's playground, and the Huntington Community Center currently undergoing renovation and expansion," he said. "Most importantly, the yard has the potential to be an attractive nuisance. Children are naturally curious and the proximity of Manor Field to the facility may well draw the more adventuresome to divert their attention to the exciting things going on within the yard."

Speaking directly after Manny Darwin was his wife Eileen Darwin. After the meeting she added that it is her opinion that the MTA needs to approach this need on a regional approach in order to best understand what options are available to them. They also need to determine what the long-term needs of the LIRR are and how the region can adapt accordingly. But the crowd favored her parting comment, which came the night of the meeting. As the bell rang to signal the end of her three minutes to speak, she concluded with, "200 years ago Benjamin Franklin sent a kite with a key into the sky and discovered electricity. Sadly, the MTA is still in the dark."

Along with the submission of their formal statement, the Darwins included a recent article from the East Hampton Star about how Montauk residents are furious over LIRR diesel trains creating various types of pollution in their region. The New York Times followed with their own account in the Long Island section this past Sunday. There is both a train station and six-track rail yard located at the Edgemere Road stop. Residents and business owners complain about 24-hour noise pollution, the smell of diesel exhaust, as well as eyesores reported by the Star to include "'shanty-like' temporary buildings, overflowing garbage containers, old rusted equipment, and 'suspicious' storage containers." The Times reported that one condo, Montauk Manor, has lost thousands of dollars due to refunds paid to residents who are bothered at night by the train engines. The Times also reports that LIRR spokesman Brian Dolan insists the trains must sit idle because the engines take several hours to warm up to operational temperatures. Residents have formed an organization called the Montauk Anti-Pollution Coalition to fight the LIRR and MTA.

Theresa Feeney, a resident of the Huntington Country Farms development located directly across from the Manor Park site, said the MTA should consider sites other than those in the towns of Huntington and Smithtown.

"It defies business sense and common sense for the LIRR to not consider other viable sites," she said. "We're counting on you [the town board] to help us get Huntington Station removed from the LIRR's site list."

Cuthbertson said, looking back, that the August 27 public meeting was very helpful and called it a very solid outpouring of opposition to those proposed sites.

"I think we made a very compelling record to send the MTA about our feelings concerning the rail yards," he said.