New Hyde Park to use millions in grants to add electronic parking meters near LIRR station

Millions of dollars in state grants coming to New Hyde Park will result in electronic parking meters near the village's LIRR station, reconstruction of two village roads and a new headquarters for the public works department.

Mayor Lawrence Montreuil announced on Sept. 4 that the grants will total at least $11 million. That amount could grow depending on how much is awarded for the public works building, which will be demolished and rebuilt. Montreuil  said the amount could range from $10 million to $20 million.

The village will spend $827,000  to repair South 9th Street and North 6th  Street. The village keeps an ongoing list that ranks which streets are most in need of repair, and 9th and 6th streets are being done because “it was their turn based on their condition,” Montreuil said.

“They were the next roads in line and, by virtue of this grant, we’re able to do them early,” he said. “We would have had to wait a few more years until we’ve paid down some of [the village] debt.”

Montreuil said he anticipates the work will begin in coming weeks and hopes it will be completed by the end of fall.

The village will use $250,000 from a second grant to purchase parking meters near the New Hyde Park Long Island Rail Road station.

Commuters who don’t have a parking permit for the New Hyde Park station must purchase a voucher from a nearby retailer and then place the voucher on their vehicles dashboard. With electronic meters, commuters can use a kiosk to buy vouchers instead. 

Work on the meter installations should start just after the new year, the mayor said.

Montreuil said the grants are part of successful negotiations he and other village officials had with representatives from Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s office concerning the LIRR third track construction. He said State Sen. Elaine Phillips (R-Flower Hill) helped secure the funding. 

“Providing our municipalities with the means to better serve local residents is important, and I was pleased to work with Mayor Montreuil to identify specific needs of the village,” Phillips said Wednesday in a statement. 

Specifics for the third grant haven't been finalized, but it will fund a larger space for the public works department.

Tom Gannon, the village’s public works superintendent, said his staff has outgrown the current facility, which was built in the 1920s.  

“There were dirt roads in the village when this place was first built,” Gannon said. “Some of the old equipment in here is road graders that’s used to level offdirt roads and mud holes.”

The public works facility houses all the department's trucks and is a transfer station for the village's recycling program. The village also stores sand and salt for wintertime de-icing. 

“The size is inadequate to handle the amount of work that that building supports,” Montreuil said. “Even the pavement throughout the facility is so broken up that it’s to the point where it’s almost unsafe to walk.”