Seaford School Board Opts for One Issue to Be Decided in Oct. 16 Vote

After initially planning to put two propositions on the ballot for an upcoming Oct. 16 referendum vote in Seaford, the school board has decided to just leave one issue for voters to decide.

The Seaford school board on Oct. 16 where residents will decide whether to approve a  at the former Seaford Avenue School property. At that same meeting, the trustee also indicated plans to add a proposition to the Oct. 16 ballot to address plans to construct a long-stalled access road project at . However, at a special board meeting held Tuesday morning, the trustees decided after a lengthy discussion to only include the Seaford Avenue School proposal in the Oct. 16 referendum and hold the access road vote on a separate occasion.

“It was a consideration of not giving the public too much information to absorb in such a short period of time,” said Seaford Superintendent of Schools Brian Conboy. “The issue of the Seaford Harbor School access road is an important one and should be decided in a separate vote.”

The special Aug. 21 meeting had been scheduled for the sole purpose of interviewing candidates for an open assistant principal position at . 

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Conboy said the school board would decide at a future meeting when to put the access road project up for a vote. The estimated $596,719 project, which would be paid for by leftover funds from a capital improvements proposition approved in December 2007, failed by 238 votes in a referendum vote held in May 2010. District officials said once voter approval is received for the access road project, ground would likely be broken in about six months once Nassau County gives the district jurisdiction over the land about 100 yards north of the elementary school.

If voters approve the referendum on Oct. 16, the district would receive around $5.2 million from to construct 113 condos that would be sold in the range of $350,000 to $400,000 each. BK at Seaford, LLC, a subsidiary of The Engel Burman Group in Garden City, would then need to obtain necessary zoning approvals from the Town of Hempstead before commencing with the project.

After closing in 1981, the 1939-built Seaford Avenue School building served as the home of Five Towns College and most recently Nassau BOCES until its lease expired in 2010. District officials estimate that if the sale of the building is approved they would save around $100,000 in annual maintenance costs along with creating an additional tax revenue source. 

A community forum providing an overview of the Seaford Avenue School sale referendum is tentatively scheduled for Oct. 4 at Seaford High School.