Q&A Session Next Step for Jackson Ave. Project

Town of Oyster Bay officials said Tuesday night that they will hold at least one informational session for area residents before ground breaks on the Jackson Avenue Improvement Project.

Town Supervisor John Venditto and Councilman Chris Coschignano announced that development while being honored by the Syosset Chamber of Commerce during the organization's dinner meeting at Angelina's II.

Venditto said that the informational meeting would take place within the next month or two, and that experts in designing the project will be there to answer any questions. Residents will soon be notified of the date via mail, and more than one informational session could take place if necessary. 

"Getting it done is one thing, getting it done right is another," Venditto said, later adding, "If this job is not done right, we'll be plagued by some of the same horrors we had before."

Venditto said he still hoped to break ground on the project before of the end of the year, but a two-month wait before a public meeting with designers would put that timetable in jeopardy. Under that scenario a project couldn't be approved and put out to bid before early-to-mid November.

The bidding process would then take approximately 45 days. In a Syosset Patch story last Friday a Town engineer said that a planned November groundbreaking was still possible, but that now appears unlikely. 

On a related note, Venditto and Coschignano announced that the Town had secured an additional $230,000 in state grant money toward "Streetscape," a project that will bring aesthetics such as benches and lighting to the downtown area. The Town had previously received $1.3 million in state-allotted federal funds for the project, so the Town tab is now only around $80,000.

The projects could be worked on concurrently, with Venditto looking at a timeframe of 6-10 months after work begins.

"As someone said to me earlier and put in a very nice way, [the projects] can make their grand debut together," Coschignano said.