Town residents fear traffic from road extension

Town of Port Washington officials will hold a public hearing in October to decide whether to abandon a small strip of Groeschel Road.

The board set a 7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 4 hearing on the request by six neighboring property owners to abandon the road north of Keelson Cove.

The property owners have told the board they don’t want additional traffic in their neighborhood, even when the proposed Whitetail subdivision is built to the north on the land formerly owned by the Weiss family.

Plans for the subdivision show one of its roads connecting to Groeschel Road, but if the town were to abandon that stretch of Groeschel Road it would effectively prevent this from occurring.

“We don’t want the road open to the city on the other side,” Robert Jackson, 3557 Groeschel Rd., told the board in June. “We all moved there for the quiet, the privacy. There is no reason in the world to do this. It should remain a closed road.”

Linking their roadway to the Whitetail subdivision would give those homeowners a shortcut to take into the heart of the city, Jackson said, adding he and his neighbors believe better access to the subdivision would be off Highway LL.

One man in the audience asked whether the City of Port Washington would receive notice of the public hearing since it would affect a development in the city.

“The city has nothing to do with it,” Jackson replied.

Residents previously asked the town to prohibit city residents from using Groeschel Road, something board members said they can’t legally do.

“The road is open today and it has been since the 1950s,” Town Chairman Mike Didier said. “It’s a gravel road. Anyone here can travel the road today, can travel the road tomorrow. This board has no right to tell anyone they can’t drive on it.”

And, he added, “the town can’t stop them (the subdivision developers) from building a road on their property” even if it connects to a town road.

Town Attorney Johnathan Woodward told the board that in order to comply with the regulations about abandoning a road, the quickest a hearing can be held is six weeks.

The Town Board also needs to inspect the area, Woodward said.

Board members did that on Wednesday, Aug. 11.