Wider Westbury Avenue not feasible, Nassau tells Carle Place residents, biz owners

A Westbury Avenue streetscaping project in Carle Place could include repaving the road, beautifying sidewalks and adding new lighting fixtures, but a plan to widen a roadway that many residents say is too narrow will not be in the works, officials said Wednesday.

Kenneth Arnold, commissioner of the Nassau County Department of Public Works, spoke about the county’s plans at a Carle Place Civic Association meeting. County officials conducted a nearly $200,000 study on Westbury Avenue — between Jamaica Boulevard and Carle Place Road — to examine pavement conditions, narrow lane width and pedestrian accessibility, Arnold said.

He noted that the current lane and parking configurations are “under standard for today’s code.” The county examined alternatives such as eliminating parking on either side of the road or removing curbs to widen the lanes, Arnold said, but it was determined that doing so would negatively impact local businesses that depend on the nearly 200 street parking spots, and pedestrians.

“Ultimately, my office’s recommendation is that we do not look to eliminate parking on either side of the road and leave the current configuration how it is,” Arnold said. “Bigger lane widths, which is more conducive to better flow of traffic, but you also have an increase in speed because people now have more road. We thought that would be a byproduct the community wouldn’t be in favor of.”

Along with repaving the road, which was built in 1910, he said the county will investigate the possibility of adding decorative streetlights, benches along the corridor and removing obstructions along the sidewalks. Changes to the area could be completed by next spring, but Arnold said Nassau County is collaborating with local stakeholders to “get consensus” on what changes they want to move forward in the process.

Wendy Liotti, whose family owns a mixed-use building at 507 Westbury Ave., said her main concerns are parking, traffic and safety.

“It really is dangerous,” Liotti said. “When you’re parked on the side street and you try to open your door, you have to wait until there’s no cars because there’s not enough room for you to open your door and for a car to go by.”

Though she said the current plans are a start, Liotti noted that “doing nothing is not a solution.” 

“There needs to be a little bit of beautification, but at the end of the day the problem still is that the driving lanes are just not wide enough” Liotti said.

Lifelong Carle Place resident John Colleary said repaving the roadway will benefit the community and noted that “the commissioner’s hands are tied as far as a solution goes.”

“Westbury Avenue just needs to be repaved,” he said. “You can’t do much about making it wider.”