Seaford School District Still Awaiting SEQRA for Access Road

Seaford School District officials remains eager to move ahead with plans to construct a long-planned access road in front of the Seaford Harbor School but are currently in a holding pattern while they wait for a required State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQEA) declaration to be issued.

District officials had hoped the SEQRA would be completed by Thanksgiving but Seaford Superintendent Brian Conboy said in his administrative report during Thursday night's Board of Education meeting that they are still waiting for word from the state. Conboy emphasized that despite the delay he has received word from the district's legal counsel that it is only a matter of time before the SEQRA is issued.

"It is imminent so the day that it comes in we will be able to set our timeline for everything else that has to happen related to the Harbor road project," said Conboy during his administrative report. "We are very anxious to get that underway but there is a little that we can do until we get the approved SEQRA."

The SEQRA is necessary to give the Seaford School District jurisdiction over the Nassau County-owned land that the access road would be built on. The planned access road, which has been in the works since the 1970's, would stretch roughly 100 yards north of Seaford Harbor School and connect Bayview Street and Ionia Street. This would enable cars and buses to access the school from Ionia Street and alleviate the current congestion that exists on Bayview Street, according to district officials.

Once the SEQRA is issued the Seaford Board of Education will be able to set a timeline for when to hold a referendum vote for the access road. Funds for the access road project, estimated to cost around $550,000, are available from left over contingency funds from a $21.5 million capital improvements bond approved on Dec. 4, 2007. Despite already having the money in place from the 2007 bond, the district's bond counsel Martin Geiger has stated that a separate referendum is for the project since it was not included in the 2007 proposition.

At the Nov. 18 Board of Education meeting district officials and trustees whether holding the referendum for the access road in February or March separate from the regular May budget vote would enhance the chances of approving the proposition. The school board plans to continue to discuss when a referendum vote should be held at its next work session, which has not been scheduled yet.