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HALF HOLLOW HILLS Copyright © 2009 Long Islander Newspapers, LLC.
Online at www.LongIslanderNews.com VOLUME TWELVE, ISSUE 46
LONG ISLANDER NEWSPAPERS TELECOMMUNICATIONS/MEDIA BUSINESS OF THE YEAR
N E W S P A P E R
24 PAGES
THURSDAY, JANUARY 14, 2010
DIX HILLS
Town: Ice Rink On Time, On Budget Half Hollow Hills photo/Danny Schrafel
By Danny Schrafel dschrafel@longislandernews.com
Town officials said their plan to build a second ice rink at Dix Hills Park is within its budget and expected to be finished in late spring, but critics are checking that notion into the boards, arguing the plan is still considerably more expensive than initially promised. The Town approved plans to build the $16.5 million, nearly 80,000 square-foot facility on Feb. 9, 2009, with money to be drawn from reserves, bonds and open space funding. Eleven months later, the project is coming in on time and within budget, thanks to the Engineering Department’s stewardship, Councilwoman Susan Berland said. “[They are] keeping involved in what’s going on during a day-to-day basis, and the company we’re using knows we’re going to keep them on budget,” Berland said. Town spokesman A.J. Carter said the cold snap of recent weeks is setting the project back a “couple of weeks,” but that the delay had been accounted for and the contractor made good on the down time by working on the existing rink. The new ice rink is expected be finished in May or June, and once the new one is up and
Steel beams are up and masonry is ready to go to build a nearly 80,000 square foot, $16.5 million addition to the current Dix Hills Ice Rink, which Town officials say is on time and within budget. running, the existing rink will be closed for five to six months for renovations. “Steel is going up right now and the masonry on the exterior is going up,” Carter said. “It’s proceeding very well and within budget.”
Tom Dana, a real estate broker from Dix Hills and one of the rink’s most outspoken critics, said even if the project is built at its estimated cost, it’s still going to be twice as expensive as initial plans to expand the ice rink and is imprudent to
pursue during a recession. “I believe they could have renovated the original rink and made it a little larger for $2-$4 million and it would have been very adequate for the town,” he said. On Aug. 29, 2006, the Town Board passed a resolution to allocate $8 million from bonds and its capital budget to build a 53,024 square-foot addition to the existing rink. Initial research by the Engineering Department put the estimated final cost between $11 and $12 million, director Pat Del Col said, but when the project was put to bids in October 2007, they came back at about $15 million. The higher-than-expected bids led Town officials to downsize the plan by 8,474 square feet before awarding the project to the L.D. Wenger Company, which specializes in ice rink construction, on Sept. 23, 2008. Berland said the skating community is “very excited” at the prospect of more ice, which could open the door to new, more diverse programs. “We want to have a senior skate, a handicapped skate,” Berland said. “Over the break, there was an autism skate… and they do it once a year. If we can do something like that more often, that’s something we’re looking forward to. (Continued on page A17)
TOWN OF HUNTINGTON
Man Shot By Cop Not A Suspect PD: Man matching robbery suspect’s description near crime scene ignored officer’s orders Half Hollow Hills photo/Mike Koehler
By Mike Koehler mkoehler@longislandernews.com
Suffolk police admitted Monday that an officer pulled the trigger of his service weapon on a man who was only guilty of not complying with orders. An officer from the Second Precinct shot the 31-year-old man at 4:15 a.m. near Dix Hills Plaza after pulling a car over in connection with the robbery of a Huntington Station Taco Bell just minutes before. “This is a very unfortunate incident. The investigation of this incident is ongoing. We are conducting a thorough investigation,” Chief of Detectives Dominick
A Suffolk County police officer shot a man believed to be involved in the robbery of a Huntington Station Taco Bell on Monday morning. He was later deemed not a suspect.
Varrone said. Varrone refused to name the 14-yearveteran. Police initially responded to the fast food business on New York Avenue after a 911 call reported the robbery. Three Hispanic men armed with handguns stole cash from the manager, Varrone confirmed, before fleeing the scene. Three miles away on Jericho Turnpike, the officer in question was driving a marked patrol car when he initiated a felony car stop of a sedan with three men and called for back-up. All three passengers were Hispanic, causing him to become increasingly suspicious, the chief said. The officer ordered all three men not to move in both English and Spanish. However, police said, the driver abruptly exited the vehicle. He complied with orders (Continued on page A17)
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