Civics come together to address ‘crumbling roads’

Ten civic groups in Glen Head and Glenwood Landing have banded together to lobby for multiple road re-pavements in the hamlets.

“I think it’s important that our communities be represented and have a voice when issues come up,” said George Esernio, a member of Glen Head’s North Side Civic Association. He, along with fellow community leaders George Pombar and Craig Clausen, are tackling aging roads.

Clausen is a member of the Glen Knolls-Glen Head Estate Civics. He said that he and Pombar, who heads the Todd Estates Civic Association, had been in contact with the Town of Oyster Bay since last February to address the conditions of the developments’ roads, which, according to Clausen, were last repaved in 1983.

“In the summer of 2017 the town did proceed with significant milling and paving of numerous ‘problematic areas’ I had alerted them to,” Clausen said, “And while this work [was] a higher grade repair than mere patching, it does not solve the long-term issue of the structural compromising of our developments’ roads, and the need for a complete repaving project.”

The civics identified three problem areas they said the town should address: Sylvia Street in Glenwood Landing, the intersection of William and Waverly streets in Glen Head, and a number of roads in the Glen Knolls-Glen Head Estates development off of Glen Cove Avenue.

Esernio said that numerous neighbors have complained about getting flat tires while driving down Sylvia Street. He also said the town’s temporary patch job at Waverly and William, which was done several months ago, has spurred a sinkhole. “The roads are crumbling before our eyes,” he said.

The civics suggested the town’s temporary solutions to remedy the crumbling roads are a result of a lack of funding. “It has surely surprised me in conversations with highway department officials that the Town of Oyster Bay does not seem to have road repair capital in place that encompasses the entire township,” Clausen said. “The lack of such a program does not speak well for the management protocols being employed.”

Ersenio agreed that if the town had a comprehensive budget for road repaving that included long term planning, it would prevent the civics from having to continuously address the issue down the road.

Brian Nevin, the town’s public information officer, said a road pavement management system is being created now, which will be complete by the summer of 2018.

The town is scheduled to perform the following road infrastructure repairs this year: Road reconstruction on Sylvia Street, Viola Street and Virginia Street from Sylvia to Glenwood Road; mill and pave Frost Pond Road in Glen Head; drainage repair at Linden Place in Glen Head; road and drainage improvements, William Street area, Glen Head.

Additionally, the following areas are currently in the design phase with the possibility of construction in 2018: Smith Street from Orchard Street to Glen Cove Avenue; Brookwood Street; Willard Place; and Orchard Street from Glenwood Road to Townsend Street. Smith Street from Orchard Street to Cody Avenue; and Virginia Street from Sylvia to Viola Street (dead end).

“The Division of Engineering will be monitoring and inspecting roads throughout the town as the year goes on, and there is always the possibility of more work,” Nevin added.

Pombar said the civics had been in touch with Deputy Highway Commissioner John Bishop to meet and discuss the status of the roads, and that a meeting was “forthcoming.” Nevin, however, said a meeting had not yet been scheduled.

Clausen is holding out hope. “It’s a common theme in our community,” he said, “To have active civics who are interested in keeping the integrity of our town [with] thoughtful and appropriate development.”