Farmingdale Facelift to Jump Into Action

Residents will see the beginnings of another phase in Farmingdale's Main Street facelift in the coming weeks. According to the , residents will see scaffolding and work being done around Main Street as part of their "streetscape" and facade improvement programs.

Parts of the ongoing revitalization program date back to about 2010 when the village received their first funds for the project.

"This is going on two years now that the money was first awarded to us," said Deputy Mayor Pat Christiansen. "We did a lottery the first year and the first 23 people were chosen for the improvements.

The board said that as money continues to be filtered to them from the federal level through Nassau County and allocated to the village, more improvements will be done. The eventual goal is to revamp the central commercial district on Main Street from Route 109 to Melville Road, and the intersecting commercial area on Conklin Road.

The program is likely to slow down next year, according to Mayor Ralph Ekstrand.

"We'll probably be losing 15 to 20 percent of the funding for it because we know the government is cutting about that much," said Ekstrand. "That's just the way it is."

Residents won't be responsible for picking up the slack, however, as the board said they would do as much work as they could with the money they had.

The facade improvement program, which will redo storefronts, signs, and streetlights, will be underway on a handful of businesses on Main Street in the coming weeks. Some storefronts, like that of , are already finished. Brickwork and sidewalk work, part of "streetscape" will continue as well.