On Thursday night, April 16, at a meeting of the GC Traffic Commission, Village engineer Chris Markin presented a plan developed by the Nassau County Department of Public Works to “resolve the traffic issues at the intersection of Clinton Road and Stewart Avenue.”

By way of background, the EPOA in the spring of 2014, working with resident Bill Bellmer, made a request to the Traffic Commission asking that the signaling at this intersection be reviewed by the County and suggesting (1) the addition on Clinton SB of a trailing (at end of green interval) left-turn ARROW (not lane) to clear the intersection of vehicles stuck after the light turns red, and (2) the addition of a dedicated Clinton NB right-turn lane (within the existing ROW on the SE corner) to allow NB traffic to take advantage of the existing NB right-turn arrow. The Traffic Commission sent that request to NC in June, 2014. At the April 6 BOT organizational meeting, Trustee Brian Daughney, the outgoing Traffic Commission chair, announced that NC had developed a plan for remaking the intersection.

After seeing and reviewing a copy of the maps and plan for the first time, earlier this week, and attending the April 16 presentation, we are very concerned with the proposal and its implications for the East. There is no way the EPOA could support the current NC plan. It would create an intersection similar to the one at Clinton/OCR in an area of residential housing and a public school: 9 lanes east and 8 lanes west on Stewart, 5 lanes north and 6 lanes south on Clinton. It would take property from Stewart School. It would cut down 60 trees. This reconfiguration inevitably would attract additional car and, worse, truck traffic to an area of school children and private homes. This is a residential, not a commercial, intersection.

We have been assured by Village Trustee and new Traffic Commission chair Bob Bolebruch that the EPOA will be involved in all discussions going forward. We appreciate Trustee Bolebruch’s leadership and his inclusive approach. Mayor Nick Episcopia and new East Trustee John Delany share the same concerns as the EPOA. We are asking that the simple and relatively inexpensive proposal made by the EPOA a year ago be reconsidered by NC. We are ready to consider other modifications as long as they do not steer additional traffic through a residential/school area with the attendant safety, environmental and aesthetic concerns.

The NC plan will be reviewed and discussed at the EPOA’s April 21 meeting, beginning at 7:30 pm, in the senior center at St. Paul’s. We encourage East residents to attend.