The tree debate continues as a judge will decide whether or not to grant a hearing or lift the temporary restraining order (TRO) put in place to protect 200 trees in Hicksville, Plainview, Syosset and Bethpage which are on the chopping block in what Nassau County is calling a “sidewalk repair” project.
Tree advocates were able to get the TRO on the basis of the county not conducting an environmental impact study. A state appellate judge issued a TRO on Nov. 5, granting the trees protection and giving the county until Nov. 14 to put in their response papers. From there, a judge will grant a hearing or lift the TRO.
Residents from Hicksville, Plainview, Bethpage and Syosset have banded together for the past two months to fight the county’s plan to axe the trees along South Oyster Bay Road. At a meeting of the Hicksville Community Council on Nov. 6, residents voiced their frustrations with the project to Legislators Rose Marie Walker and Laura Schaefer, and Department of Public Works Press Secretary Michael Martino.
“Why are perfectly good trees being cut down? Was there any kind of environmental study done?” asked resident Angela Riscica. “You’re going to cut down all these trees, then there’s going to be more bugs. You’ve removed homes for animals. You’ve interrupted the natural progression of the universe and the ecosystem and you’ll have to use more taxpayer dollars because you destroyed all this for a sidewalk.”
“We’re paying for this and we don’t want it,” said another meeting attendee. “No more trees can go down. I don’t know why this was done without us being properly informed.”
Residents whose homes abut South Oyster Bay Road noted the many benefits of the trees, including that the trees block traffic noise, help protect air quality and provide shade. They called on Walker and Schaefer to urge County Executive Ed Mangano to stop the project immediately.
Tanya Lukasik heads up Operation STOMP (Save Trees Over More Pavement), the group advocating to save the trees. She says the county’s plan is a drastic measure and that they haven’t done their research.
“They need to look into every option to see how they can save as many trees as possible. They want to cut down every single tree. But a lot of sidewalks in the project are completely flat and safe,” said Lukasik. “These trees provide a lot of benefits. If the slabs are lifted, we should fix those select slabs and then we can go on our way. If there’s a cheaper alternative to fix the sidewalk and save the trees, why aren’t we looking into those methods?”
STOMP is calling on the county to do an environmental impact study and look into other avenues to fix the sidewalks, without cutting down the trees.
According to Martino, the project costs $6 million. It’s broken into four phases—the first phase was in Bethpage (a project that was almost completed with over 100 trees cut down before the TRO was granted); phase two is in Hicksville and Plainview; phase three was in Syosset and the fourth phase (which according to Lukasik has not been put out to BID yet) is in Syosset north of the expressway. The tree removal is currently at a standstill, and at the meeting, Martino said the county has lost close to $200,000 because of the restraining order. In the meantime, the contractors are doing spot sidewalk repair.
“We want the sidewalks fixed and we want to preserve the trees and you can have both. The county owes it to the residents,” said Lukasik.
