In an attempt to alleviate the parking problem in downtown Hicksville and other surrounding areas, particularly near local train stations, Oyster Bay Town Clerk Martha Offerman suggests re-opening the Landia train station on a capped landfill between Robins Lane and South Oyster Bay Road, right off the north service road of the Long Island Expressway. The station, which has been closed for more than 20 years, hasn't had a train pass through since 1973. Another company currently exists on the property.

Offerman, along with Tom Clark, former town councilman turned deputy commissioner of the town's Department of Public Works, introduced their proposal to residents during last Thursday's Hicksville Community Council meeting.

"The parking situation has been horrendous," Offerman said. "This year, I issued 34,000 parking permits in the town for 9,000 spots. These problems aren't going away, they're just getting worse.

"Supervisor Venditto has been very supportive...He suggested I speak with Tom Clark because Tom's been interested in this project for some time. This is a perfect example of two different [political] parties working together for the good of the people."

Offerman said the Town of Oyster Bay owns a piece of property on the Oyster Bay landfill. It's a capped landfill called a brownfield. Clark said few things become of brownfields. "They can be used as parking lots or golf courses and the Town of Oyster Bay has enough golf courses...if this station is re-opened, it will provide at least 1,640 additional spots."

"If I can take some 1,600 cars away from Hicksville and away from Syosset, it will take a load off of you folks," Offerman said.

Through further investigation, Offerman realized the Metropolitan Transit Authority's (MTA) capital budget does not earmark funds for parking or for railroad stations. Knowing this, she then approached Town Supervisor John Venditto, asking whether or not the town could bond the money and build the station. "If the Town of Oyster Bay owned the lot, we'd be setting a precedent that could be used for future building."

Clark noted this is a critical point. "If we pay for the parking, we can restrict it to town residents; if the MTA pays for the parking, it opens up to all of New York. We're looking for three commuter trains in the morning and three in the evening - we're not trying to build another Jamaica station. We just want a few trains to bring the 1,500-1,600 commuters into the city just like any other station."

Offerman realized, however, that the Town of Oyster Bay does not run several of the lots in Hicksville, Bethpage and other surrounding areas. "We have a lease agreement with the MTA in which we're responsible for the maintenance, insurance policy of the workers, etc. Although building the station ourselves would take the onus off the MTA, will they pick up commuters at that station? That's where we're at right now."

Admitting she and Clark still need to work out more details, Offerman said they need support right now more than anything else. Both the Hicksville and Syosset Chambers of Commerce are in favor of the idea, as well as Hicksville's NorthWest Civic Association. Offerman asked all local civic groups to send letters of support.

"The Hicksville chamber is backing this up," Ella Marie Columbo, chamber president, said. "I am for it. I do think it's a great idea but after hearing what's been discussed, it's probably highly unlikely that it will come to pass because the town doesn't have the money to do that."

Clark said Hicksville's private lot charges $5 a day or roughly $100 a month, parking about 160 cars in that area per day. "If we build the station, this could alleviate the parking problem in Hicksville and the jam-up in downtown Syosset. We could assign numbers and people could buy permits for about $100 a month. Offerman said the town could then pay off the bond with its revenue income.

Likewise, Jerry Siegel, Syosset Chamber of Commerce president, agrees, saying, "We believe the idea of taking some traffic away from the well overused Syosset train station is one that will benefit everybody. There is a major parking problem that we've been addressing with the police department and although we have made some progress, it still dramatically impacts on the ability of the merchants to do their business simply because there is no parking for their customers.

"As far as commuters are concerned, the station will allow them ease of access in many cases. The concept being that it will only be used during rush hour in the morning and evening, I think eliminates negatives as far as the school is concerned. It also will open up additional possibilities for development of the Cerro Wire property that has existed in the town for years. I think it's a win-win-win all around."

NorthWest Civic Association President Dale Bennett added, "Anything that will take some pressure off of Hicksville parking would be welcomed. The last thing we need is more parking lots for the railroad. It's not fair of the residents of surrounding communities to automatically expect Hicksville to be the home for everything they do not want in their own community.

"Our civic will discuss the station. This is not the first time that the issue has come up. Len Ober, previous civic association president, told me that the NorthWest civic had been in favor of the station in the past. We will most likely be sending a letter in favor of it."

"No one really takes the Oyster Bay line because it's about an hour and 20 minutes with a change over at Jamaica. Many surrounding communities use Hicksville line because it's so much faster," Offerman said. "Parking tickets are up to $25 now but people, in the midst of rushing to work, will park illegally and take the summons."

Certain Syosset civic groups are not in favor of the proposal, claiming the station's re-opening might interfere with the Robins Lane School traffic in the morning. "The last train coming in would be around 7:30, maybe earlier, and school doesn't start until 9 o'clock," Clark said. "School lets out at about 3 o'clock and trains wouldn't be coming into the station until 5-5:30."

Senator Carl Marcellino said Long Island Rail Road officials had looked at re-opening Landia years ago and ruled it out.

"I had a meeting with Long Island Rail Road officials on some projects we're working on for some of the stations here and I asked them specifically if they had anything in the mix or if they've been contacted by anyone regarding Landia. They said they have not been contacted and it's not in their capital program. Their attitude is this would slow down train traffic not enhance it.

"While parking is absolutely an issue, opening Landia on a full-time basis would mean trains leaving Syosset and going to Hicksville or vice versa would have an additional stop which would mean the crossings at Robbins Lane and in Syosset would be down for longer periods of time. Martha spoke to me about only opening Landia during rush hours. One of the problems is that a lot of the people out here do not travel on set times. If you park your car at Landia and the train stops there only at certain times, you may be getting home an hour later and the train won't stop there and you're stuck finding transportation to get your car.

"I've been proposing to railroad officials - and they're working on it - to increase the viability of the Oyster Bay line. They're putting on a train that can run on both diesel and electric lines. It's important because the Oyster Bay line is not electrified. These trains don't have to change at Jamaica. Putting additional locomotives on this line would encourage people to utilize the North Shore where there is parking and where they live. This would take more traffic away from Hicksville, Syosset and Cold Spring Harbor, which also bears part of that burden. That is in their plans rather than going through Landia which has met tremendous opposition in the communities."

New York State Assemblman Marc Herbst, a member of the Capital Review Board, said there's $63 million for commuter parking needs in the MTA's capital budget, which was approved last year. "The Town of Oyster Bay, if they choose, can access funding from that source but have never elected to do so in the past because when you accept state money you have to open the parking up to all New York residents," Herbst said. "As a professional transportation planner, if this was to go forward, the impact would be to alleviate and transfer the parking congestion in the Syosset station significantly but have less of an impact on the Hicksville station."

Offerman said sometime in March or early April, she will be handing out postcards at local train stations asking commuters whether or not they'd be in favor of another station. This way, Offerman says, the town could get an extensive survey of whether or not local residents want their idea to fly.