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Seaford Avenue sale moving forward

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Last Friday was the two-year anniversary of voters’ approval of the sale of the vacant Seaford Avenue School to a private developer. Eight days earlier, The Seasons at Seaford moved one step closer to becoming a reality with a ruling by the Nassau County Planning Commission.

The commission granted preliminary subdivision approval on Dec. 4 for a 112-unit senior housing complex to be built on the site of the vacant Seaford Avenue School. The commission also issued a negative declaration under the State Environmental Quality Review Act, meaning that the project’s construction is not expected to have a significant impact on the environment.

According to Michael Martino, a spokesman for the Nassau County Department of Public Works, the final application has now been submitted and needs approval from the DPW, the county Health Department and the Town of Hempstead.

Martino said that a change in zoning was required for the project. He added that members of the planning commission expressed no reservations about the proposal.

On Dec. 12, 2012, Seaford residents, by a 203-vote margin, approved the sale of the property to the Engel Burman Group of Garden City. “That’s how long it takes to get good things done,” said Schools Superintendent Brian Conboy, who hopes the sale can be completed in the first quarter of 2015.

Once the vacant school is sold, the district will receive $5.2 million from Engel Burman. “Five million can do a lot of great things for a school district,” Conboy said. He added that the money would likely be used for “one-shot” items such as large purchases or building upgrades, so taxpayers won’t have to foot the bill. If the money were put toward the general budget, he said, it would eventually run out and leave a hole in a few years.

Once The Seasons is completed and occupied, it is expected to bring in several hundred thousand dollars a year in tax revenue. On its website, Engel Burman bills the projects as “Coming Fall 2015.” The company is expected to begin demolition of the school and construction of the units soon after the sale closing.

The Seasons is modeled after similar developments in East Meadow and Plainview. There would be eight buildings full of two-bedroom units. The site plan includes a clubhouse in the center of the property, as well as a pool. Entrances to the complex would be on Waverly Avenue.

The Seaford School District has not used the 1938 building as an elementary school since 1981. It was rented to Five Towns College for about a decade, and then to BOCES, which moved out in 2010. The building has been vacant since then, falling into disrepair and becoming a target for vandals.

“We’re not pleased that the property looks the way it does,” Conboy said, “but at the same time, it would have been improper [to spend] too much of the district’s resources making it look better.”

He said he is looking forward to the day when the district will no longer have to worry about upkeep of the building. A graduate of the school himself, he said that seeing the building come down will be sad, but sentiment can’t get in the way of what is best for the district and its residents. “I can’t make any salient argument that it is a piece of property we should hang onto,” Conboy said.

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