Op-Ed: State May Seize Garden City Property for MTA Track Expansion

From Garden City Mayor Nicholas P. Episcopia:

In early January, the village received a letter from Joseph T. Brown, regional director of the New York State Department of Transportation, dated Dec. 27, 2016. The letter stated that in order to construct the LIRR third track, property owned by the Village of Garden City adjacent to the construction sites could be temporarily or permanently acquired by a Memorandum of Understanding, or eminent domain.

The Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) specifically states that three parcels of Garden City land on the south side of the New Hyde Park Rail Road station will be acquired by eminent domain. It is therefore logical to assume that the LIRR/MTA could very well acquire additional village properties. However, which properties they would “take” by eminent domain are not specified anywhere.

In response, our village and environmental counsel prepared a response to Mr. Brown’s letter requesting that Garden City be informed as to which parcels are being considered for either temporary or permanent acquisition. The letter also states that at informal meetings with the governor’s representatives, while they mentioned that there “could” be a need for use of village property for construction vehicle staging areas or equipment storage, there was no mention of permanent property acquisitions as described in the DEIS.

Our letter to Mr. Brown ends with the statement that we view his letter as an attempt to adversely affect our legal right to respond and that our letter should be viewed as our formal objection to this improper attempt to curtail our rights. At the Jan. 19 hearing on the Third Track Project, I personally gave the letter to the LIRR/MTA representatives and we followed up by mailing a copy to Mr. Brown. As of this date, we have had no response from him or from the LIRR/MTA.

This week, I had conversations with Assemblyman Ed Ra and state Senator Kemp Hannon. The new state budget is now being reviewed and the $2 billion for the Third Track Project, which is also known as the LIRR Expansion Project, is not in it. They believe that the governor will somehow try to “shoehorn” the money into the existing MTA Capital Plan, but they both stated that any changes in the use of funds would require the unanimous approval of the Capital Plan Approval Board. The MTA Capital Plan Approval Board consists of one person from the Assembly, one from the Senate, one appointed by the mayor of New York City and one appointed by the governor.

According to our state legislators, in the event that the governor attempts to do this project using federal money, the federal environmental requirements are far more stringent than those of New York State, and therefore, the project would require an entirely new Environmental Impact Study.

While the LIRR/MTA and governor’s representatives claim that the $2 billion, nine-mile third track will benefit our local communities and boost service for reverse commuters, only one additional train will be added during the eastbound morning rush hour and one during the westbound evening rush hour.

Photo: Village of Garden City