By Sophia Chang
“This is a middle-of-Manhattan plan you're plunking down in Bayside Hills,” said resident Nancy Tognan, who lives nearby on 211th Street and 50th Avenue.Officials from the Department of Education's School Construction Authority presented the city's plan for a 46,300 square-foot school for 440 students from pre-kindergarten to third grade at 211-06 48th Ave., a block away from the Keil Brothers nursery. The current Jewish center would be torn down and a new, three or four-story schoolhouse would be built on the lot, estimated to measure around 87 feet by 200 feet.”In every district in the city, we search for sites,” said Lorraine Grillo, senior director of real estate services for the SCA. According to Grillo, the center's administrators had approached the city about turning their facilities into a school. “When this came our way, we were thrilled,” she said. While Grillo could not provide specifics on schematics like number of classrooms or the location of a planned 3,000 square foot play yard, she acknowledged that the center was very close to selling their site to the city. “There is a deal on the table, but it won't go through without approval from the City Council,” she said.Department of Education officials have estimated that District 26, considered one of the city's best, is in need of over 2,000 seats in the next decade, primarily for younger students and high schoolers.But despite the overcrowded conditions in some area elementary schools, community residents decried the site as unsuitable for a new school, recommending that nearby PS 31 or PS 203 be expanded instead.”Why spend this money on this location when the community doesn't want it, and the infrastructure can't handle it?” asked Jerry Iannece, chairman of the board.Residents also decried the results of the city's environmental impact study that concluded the proposed school would not negatively affect the area in terms of traffic and congestion.In particular, residents scoffed at a city statistic that cited only 10 percent of students would be driven to and from school by private cars, which they said was not the situation in suburban Bayside where public transportation is limited.”Parking is a problem for us already,” said Ron Keil, owner of the Keil Brothers nursery. He noted that the nursery's trucks unload their deliveries in the mornings as students would be coming to school, creating a dangerous traffic situation. “It's a very busy intersection,” Keil said.The overwhelming public dissent in the meeting put the city officials on the defensive.”I'm not here to be an adversary. I'm here to listen,” Grillo said. “You want, or you don't.””The children need the seats,” she added.The board's education committee voted unanimously to disapprove the plan. A public hearing and full board vote is scheduled for the board's April 4 meeting at MS 158 at 7:30 p.m.Reach reporter Sophia Chang by e-mail at news@timesledger.com, or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 146.
