Lloyd Harbor passes on traffic change

Trustees Hilary Rolih, Leland Deane, Ralph Alfenito, Mayor Leland Hairr, Trustees Jean Thatcher and William Walsh during last night's vote about the causeway.

By Tim Healy
tim.healy@newsday.com

After a public hearing in which many residents present opposed a proposal to eliminate a passing zone on the West Neck Road/Lloyd Harbor Road causeway, the Lloyd Harbor village board last night decided to retain the passing lane.

The board did vote to reduce the speed limit on the causeway to 35 mpg, from 45, and on an unrelated measure voted to abolish the village police commission and replace it with a police chief.

Twenty-one residents spoke about the causeway proposals, many expressing frustration with the prospect of driving on the lengthy road without the possibility of passing a slow moving vehicle. The passing zone, two-tenths of a mile, is the only place along the road where a car may legally pass another.

Trustee Hilary Rolih, who made the motions to put the speed and passing ordinances up for a vote, said opponents should accept the longer drive. “I’m willing to take the extra five minutes to ensure the safety of our residents.”

The speed limit resolution passed 5-1, with Trustee Ralph Alfenito, at left, casting the opposing vote. He said he had come prepared to support the measure but was swayed by the opposition residents expressed at the hearing. No member of the board would second Rolih’s motion for a vote on the no-passing measure.

The board asked consultants to perform further studies on the road to see if other changes should be considered. For a portion of the original recommendations from Eschbacher VHB engineering, minus the appendix, click here.

Mayor Leland Hairr, when asked if he were surprised by the outcome of the vote on the passing zone, said, “We were very open to see what kind of comments we were going to get from the residents.”

The board also voted to have a police chief run the village’s 12-member department, replacing the police commission. Since 1985, the village police department has been run by a board of police commissioners consisting of two trustees and a chairperson appointed by the mayor, with the approval of the board of trustees.

Hairr said it was not yet determined who would be named to the police chief position. He said the next step was to work with the Suffolk County Civil Service commission to list the position as open.