Fume Over Bus Depot
In the midst of ongoing controversy about an East Hampton School Board decision to build a school bus depot on the high school campus, it was learned at a board meeting on Tuesday that the district had negotiated a new five-year lease for the private property on which it now stores and maintains it buses; and, meanwhile, a town-owned property that some thought might provide an alternative site was briefly considered before being all but dismissed.
According to a fact sheet distributed at the end of the meeting, the new five-year lease is considered “a stop-gap measure while planning for a long-term solution.” The agreement almost doubles the cost of rent and provides for “additional, non-sustainable rent increases possible beyond the five-year term.”
The annual rent this year for the depot, at 41 Route 114, is $106,000. The lease ends next October, after which the district will pay $200,000 in the first year, with annual increases of 3 percent. The property was recently sold to an undisclosed buyer by the owners, who had operated the Schaefer bus company, which served East Hampton until 2006, when the school district bought its own buses.
The town property that emerged as an unlikely alternative is the former scavenger waste site on Springs-Fireplace Road. East Hampton Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell said by phone yesterday that he had not specifically recommended the site.
“It’s not my place to recommend to the school an action that the school should take,” Mr. Cantwell said, adding, “I have let the school know that the property is going to be considered for sale by the town, and if they had an interest, we would be willing to talk to them.”
J.P. Foster, the school board president, confirmed after the meeting that the board had discussed the property. He said, however, that it was not ideal for multiple reasons, chief among them that its purchase or lease would add to the projected $5 million price tag of a new depot. “At the end of the day, we’re trying to keep costs down,” he said.
Opposition to the current proposal has risen to the point where the group of residents opposing it have a name: the Cedar Street Committee, with Jeff Bragman, an attorney, lending support.
About 20 people attended Tuesday’s meeting to continue their campaign against the depot, which is expected to include a maintenance barn, bus parking, and a refueling station.
Those arguing against the depot have primarily argued about traffic and noise, but on Tuesday, they also raised health and environmental concerns.
“It’s a bad situation, an unhealthy situation, it is an industrial situation, and we don’t want it in a residential area,” Trudy Lester, who lives on Cedar Street directly behind the school, told school board members. Ms. Lester has had primary myelofibrosis, a blood cancer that comes from inhalation of benzene, a component of diesel fuel, for the last five years. After the meeting, she said, “There are many lawyers who are willing to sue for benzene exposure. . . . The school is opening themselves up to lawsuits.”
Ellen Collins, a Cedar Street resident who teaches at East Hampton Middle School, said the proposal was unsafe because of the depot site’s proximity to athletic fields. She also suggested the depot qualifies as a commercial operation because buses belonging to other schools may be serviced there.
“A business such as a bus depot, service station, belongs in an area zoned for industry and business. . . . It is essential that the school board consider pursuing a more suitable and safe site for all concerned,” Ms. Collins said.
Vito Brulo, a resident of nearby Pine Street, a dead-end road perpendicular to Cedar Street, said Cedar Street was already tough to navigate.”I do not allow my grandchildren to ride their bikes on Cedar Street or take a stroll. . . . We are unable to turn on Cedar Street without taking chances,” he said. “We respectfully request the board to change the location. We will aggressively pursue our goal and we will not go away.”
School board members disputed the idea that traffic on the street would greatly increase. Jackie Lowey said that 10 of the district’s 13 routes already use it. “Understand what’s being contemplated. It will add a few extra trips. I just want to be very clear. It is not going from a condition of no buses on Cedar Street.”
Mr. Foster said some residents appeared to have changed their minds. “I understand that people don’t want it in our backyard. I totally get it. At the same time, the last conversation I had with some of you was you said, ‘We’re willing to work with you.’ ”