Big Day for Lighthouse Project

Today was a big day for the Lighthouse Project, as the Town of Hempstead in Nassau County, New York (where the Lighthouse would be built), discussed and "passed" the Environmental Impact Statement for the project. I say "passed" because there wasn't any vote on it, it was discussed and no major problems arose. Although this is a much smaller part of the process that the project has to go through to be approved and to break ground, it is nonetheless a step in the right direction as the project continues its momentum from the previous news just five days ago.

Below is the upcoming steps that the project will have to complete in order to put shovels into the ground, according to Nick at Let There Be Light(house), who was at the town meeting and actually spoke:

• Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) Submitted (Lighthouse/Town of Hempstead) - DONE as of this afternoon
  
• Review period and public comments (Town of Hempstead)
• Final Environmental Impact Statement and Scope (Town of Hempstead)
• Approval of Property Divisions (Nassau County Planning Commission)
• Re-zoning Hearing (Town of Hempstead)
• Lease Negotiations (Nassau County)
• Building Permits Hearing (Town of Hempstead)
• Shovels in the Ground

No word on when the next step is to be finished by, but my guess is that it won't be for a month or so at least. From the article, Nick states that 19 out of 20 people that spoke are in favor of the lighthouse, with the one opposed calling for more affordable housing. He thinks that the groundbreaking will happen next year (which isn't the current plan), but there is still a chance, albeit under 50% according to Nick and his media contacts.

So some really good news, possibly more later.

- Update: 7:00 PM EST

Everyone has told me to get one, I still don't get it though. So if you're a Twitter user and you for some reason read this blog consistently, you're in luck. My Twitter profile is here, and if you scroll a little the last box on the right hand side you can "follow me on Twitter"

Yee haw.