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East Quogue residents on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved the purchase of a three-quarter-acre property located at 10 Central Avenue, adjacent to the elementary school, to accommodate future expansion needs.
By voting in favor of the purchase, 414-173, residents approved the spending of $400,000 already set aside in this year’s budget to acquire the property. Of that money, $250,000 will be used to buy the land, and the remaining $150,000 will be used to demolish a single-family home that sits on the parcel currently owned by the estate of Louise Oliver.
“I am very pleased, obviously, with the result,” East Quogue School Superintendent Les Black said after the results were announced at 9:15 p.m. in the school cafetorium. “It is comforting to see that so many people are farsighted enough to vote on something that is in the best community interest but may not be in their best interest right now. It is an enlightened vote by an enlightened community.”
Polls were open at the school on Tuesday, from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., and the results were announced that night after a Board of Education meeting.
The results of the vote were largely expected given the outpouring of support for the proposal during a February 7 information meeting in which several people spoke in favor of the purchase.
“I am very excited and I am not particularly surprised,” said East Quogue resident Don Bouchard when reached on Wednesday morning. “I believed that this was going to be the outcome, and I know a lot of people in the community had worked hard to get the word out on why this is an important issue to our community.”
One community resident, Patricia Reindl, who has been against the purchase since the proposal was announced in the fall, said she is still concerned over how much the purchase will raise school taxes, explaining that while the land acquisition and demo work are already covered in this year’s budget, any future expansion plans are not. She also previously questioned why the Board of Education chose to hold the vote in February when many senior citizens were at their winter homes down south.
“I’m kind of disappointed,” Ms. Reindl said on Wednesday morning. “I don’t think that people realized that the taxes are going to go up quite significantly in a few years when an addition is added.”
After the results were announced Tuesday night, District Clerk Lenore Rezza stated that the final tally included the counting of 23 absentee ballots. Of those votes, 16 were in favor of the purchase and seven were opposed, she said.
According to Mr. Black, the next step for the district is to collect bids for demolishing the house that stands on the property, noting that the cost will not exceed the $150,000 already set aside for the project. He anticipates that the house will be razed sometime in the spring.
“We are, obviously, pleased with the result,” said East Quogue Elementary School Principal Robert Long. “We are appreciative of the community’s support and we feel it is the right decision for the future.”
