Neighbors Question Depot

Opposition to the East Hampton School District’s preliminary plan to build a bus maintenance depot and refueling facility on the Cedar Street side of its high school campus has begun to emerge.

Several residents spoke up during Tuesday’s school board meeting to object to the chosen location. There is no specific blueprint as yet.

“I’m one of many local residents very concerned about the proposed bus depot on Cedar Street,” said Ellen Collins, a resident of the street, one of a group of neighbors who gathered recently to come up with other suggestions. “The traffic and safety issues that would arise from the proposed moving of the transportation and equipment to Cedar Street is our primary concern, and in particular the daily mobilization of a fleet of buses pouring out onto an already busy street,” Ms. Collins said.

She continued, “We would like to be involved in the planning. We want to work with the district to help the district meet its goals while at the same time address the concerns of the residents. . . . It is our hope that you as a district will be good neighbors to us.”

Lorne Singh, a resident of Old Northwest Road, said she was “appalled” to learn the school board had chosen the Cedar Street side of the high school campus for the transportation depot.

“This facility would pose enormous amounts of danger to the community,” she said. “On top of that, it would devalue homeowners’ properties significantly. The proposed location on Long Lane makes infinitely more sense, because that’s already a commercial street. . . . It’s wide, it handles traffic well, it is much safer, it doesn’t impact residential areas. As a facility for the community, it would have the least impact on residents.”

Encie Peters stressed that Cedar Street is heavily used by emergency vehicles. With added bus traffic, she said, “it would be a mess.”

J.P. Foster, the school board president, pledged to work with the residents as much as possible. “If we don’t have the community support, it’s not going to happen,” he said. “We have to do what’s best for the community, and we have to do it together. We value the public’s input. . . . We have to make it work, and we’re willing to make it work.”