Talk of Traffic Flow in Baxter Estates

The Town of North Hempstead's next board meeting will take place on Tuesday, Feb. 16, but the agenda isn't currently available on the town's Web site so it remains unclear what issues, if any, will be discussed regarding traffic concerns at the intersection of Shore Road and Main Street in Baxter Estates.

At the village's Board of Trustees meeting on Thursday night, traffic flow at the intersection was on the agenda.

"There have been lots of cries for help from lower Main Street stores," said Mayor of Baxter Estates Fred Nicholson, who read a copy of a letter sent by Port Washington Chief of Police William Kilfoil to Town of North Hempstead Supervisor Jon Kaiman. The letter recommended that the supervisor authorize a survey to investigate the timing of traffic lights at Main Street and Shore Road, instead of instituting a left-turn lane at the intersection, as proposed by the town.

The traffic situation at the Shore Road-Main Street intersection has been a topic of debate for years and the letter suggested that if the lights were of longer duration and timed correctly that this could possibly resolve the ongoing problem. According to Mayor Nicholson store owners on Main Street said they believe that eliminating parking spaces in front of their storefronts, which the left-turn lane would do, will severely impact business, despite the proposed addition of a small parking lot.

Steve Kaplan, current Traffic Safety Commissioner for the Village of Port Washington North and a former member of the Traffic Safety Commission for North Hempstead, has worked for years to address the problem of increased vehicle congestion on suburban roads, particularly at rush hour. "There should be a computerized timing of the lights so that in the evening the lights will favor those turning left at Shore Road and in the morning those turning right at Main Street will be favored," Kaplan said.

In previous years, there has been talk that nine parking spaces would be eliminated from lower Main Street in order to create a left-hand turning lane at Main Street and Shore Road. "I'm not in favor of taking out the parking spaces," Kaplan said. "It won't help much at all."

Also at the meeting, Thomas McDonough, Chief of the Port Washington Fire Department, and approximately 10 other members of the department outlined the department's annual contract. The Port Washington Fire Department is a not-for-profit private corporation that provides public safety services to Baxter Estates as well as the villages of Manorhaven, Port Washington North and Sands Point and portions of Plandome Manor, Flower Hill and the Town of North Hempstead.

McDonough briefly summarized the department's involvement in Baxter Estates, which included its response to 96 calls within the village. The chief said many of these were false alarms from carbon monoxide detectors being inadvertently set off.  "Houses don't breathe like they used to," he said. "Ninety percent of the time, carbon monoxide detectors go off because of dust. It would be a great help to us if the homeowners could register and service their alarms on a regular basis."

The fire department's contract was approved unanimously by the Board of Trustees to remain in effect for one year at $105,000, a small savings from 2009. "We're happy that the actual cost of providing service to the village has decreased by close to $2,900," trustee Alice Peckelis said. "The fire department does a great job."

In other village-related news, Peckelis along with Doug Baldwin will be running for re-election next month. A third seat, previously held by Ray Keenan who resigned for medical reasons, is also up for grabs at the March 16 election.