As I have previously stated here on the blog, I have been working with a small group of residents on a nomination to have the Mill Neck Bay Marina property acquired under the 2006 Nassau County Environmental Bond Act.

An overview and brief history of this land can be viewed in a prior entry at:

http://bayvilleblog.com/2006/11/23/mill-neck-bay-marina.aspx

The nomination itself is all but complete and we are waiting for letters of support that we have solicited from local user groups, community groups, elected officials, and people whose livelihoods depend on the bay.  It is our intent to attach these letters to the nomination prior to submission.  The nomination cover letter is printed below.

In addition, we are counting on a substantial number of individuals to mail in their own letters of support to follow the submission of the primary nomination.  This former boatyard has now been designated a New York State Superfund site primarily due to heavy metal contamination, including lead and mercury.  It is directly adjacent to the Creek and has water flowing continuously from the contaminated ground and into the bay.  There is little doubt that this water, along with any stormwater that runs off the property, is leaching these contaminants into the bay and subsequently into the food chain.  Every day that this is allowed to happen results in more of these contaminants accumulating in the bay.

Unfortunately, this property has now been nominated for acquisition for all three prior bond acts from the Town and County, but has been passed over each time.  I have now been working on this for over eight years and this may well be its last chance for acquisition for many years.  An overwhelming outcry from the local community is the best chance we have to start the process of cleaning up this property and converting it from an imminent threat to the environment and public health, to a beautiful addition to the Oyster Bay/Cold Spring Harbor Estuary.

I have also printed a sample letter of support below for everyone to copy and paste into your word processing program.  You can then do as little as add your name and address etc., print, sign and mail.  Or you can change it to make it your own.  The point is to do it. 

It is our hope to get at least twenty to thirty letters of support from the readers of this blog alone and so we would appreciate it if those of you who choose to get involved (as opposed to those who just gripe about what everyone else is doing wrong) would check in with us when the letter is sent.  That can be done by posting a comment under this entry, or via e-mail at: ResidentsforMNC@smalltownblog.com 

Letters to the Editor and feature stories (L.M. and Dagmar are you out there?) in the local papers would also help to bring this issue to the attention of the general public – not everyone reads this Blog (yet).  If you are willing to take a crack at submitting an editorial to the local papers, that would be a huge help – let us know.

This blog was started as a way to keep people informed and help them organize themselves to proactively address the issues that are important to them instead of complaining about them after the fact. A number of people have expressed a willingness to help out on these types of issues, and now is the time to do just that.  Or you could do nothing and complain about why others didn’t fix this problem when they had the chance.  I couldn’t have made this any easier – lick the damn stamp.

The nomination letter and sample letter are below.

Thanks,

Barry E. Lamb

Bayville

The Nomination Letter:

Residents for the Protection of Mill Neck Creek

7 Arlington La.

Bayville, NY, 11709

ResidentsforMNC@smalltownblog.com

March 3, 2007

Nassau County 2006 Environmental Bond Act Program

One West Street

Mineola, NY 11501

Attn:  Thomas F. Maher, Director of Environmental Coordination, Room 326 A

Dear Committee Members,

We are writing to you to ask that you please consider the former Mill Neck Bay Marina property as a candidate for acquisition to preserve as open space.  This parcel has been previously nominated under both Town of Oyster Bay SEA Fund programs, as well as for the first Nassau County Environmental Bond Act.  We have attached Barry Lamb’s cover letter from the first Nassau County program for your review.  Please take the time to read this letter, as it addresses much of the history of this parcel and a comprehensive understanding of its history, in my opinion, will be as vital to the consideration of this property as the physical and environmental attributes.  We have also attached several other documents that demonstrate the developments regarding this parcel since the last nomination, as well as several letters of support.

Several important changes have taken place since the other three nominations however, and so it is our hope that it will be finally acquired and subsequently cleaned up and converted to a passive park with access to Mill Neck Bay and the rest of the OB/CSH estuary.

The first thing that has changed since the other nominations is that we now know for sure that the primary landowner acquired this property from Nassau County in the first place.  Attached are copies of the deeds that were recorded with the County Clerk’s office.  The price paid for this waterfront property (at least four building lots) in 1996 was under $114,000.00.

Two new pieces of information have also come to light that affect the value of the property considerably.  First, the Tidal Wetlands permits that were originally issued by the NYSDEC have either expired or have been placed on hold and are not currently being considered for renewal.  This was the result of concerns addressed in the attached letter from Cashin, Spinelli & Ferretti, LLC, dated August 16, 2005.  In addition, after initial soil samples taken during negotiations with the Town of Oyster Bay SEA Fund Committee, the site was designated a New York State Class 2 Superfund site in early 2006 (DEC letter dated March 31, 2006 attached).  According to the DEC, the Class 2 designation means that “this site poses a significant threat to the environment or public health and action is required”.  While a comprehensive analysis of the contamination has not been conducted, the preliminary tests show that the contamination consists primarily of heavy metals concentrated in the top layers of the soil.  In all likelihood, the cleanup of this site will consist of the removal and replacement of that soil and state funds will be available for this purpose.

Finally, and perhaps most significantly, the owner of the property has recently expressed an interest in divesting himself from the property. Perhaps he has come to terms with the fact the original owners of the marina knew all along; the property is unsuitable for development.  It is unfortunate that Nassau County did not come to the same conclusion when it held title to the land and was in an excellent position to make sure the site was properly cleaned up and protected as open space, but in 1996 allowed the property to slip away for so little.  The NYSDEC also had an opportunity to do the right thing, but in 2000, they issued permits to the property owner(s) to convert this former industrial site to residential housing.  The DEC issued these permits without ensuring that a plausible environmental assessment was conducted; despite this being standard operating procedure in these circumstances.  Should the developer prove difficult to negotiate with, eminent domain is still an option that should certainly be considered in this particular case.

We fully understand the County’s caution in regard to acquiring this property; the potential cost involved in cleaning up the property is still an unknown.  We would encourage you however, to make an effort to work with the DEC to fully investigate the extent of the clean up and the funds available to come up with a plan for acquisition and restoration.  We may very well find out that the clean up will consist of nothing more than removing the first two feet of contaminated soil and replacing it with clean soil and that the liability is quite manageable.  Since the County was the prior deed holder, and transferred the property without doing an environmental assessment, liability may be unavoidable anyway.

We are hoping that all of the mistakes of the past can finally be corrected and this beautiful little piece of land can be returned to the public domain, cleaned of all contamination and be returned to a more natural state.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

Barry E. Lamb          Carla Panetta           Jeri Cavagnaro

Founding members, Residents for the Protection of Mill Neck Creek.

And the Sample Letter:

March 3, 2007

Nassau County 2006 Environmental Bond Act Program

One West Street

Mineola, NY 11501

Attn:  Thomas F. Maher, Director of Environmental Coordination, Room 326 A

Dear Thomas Maher:

I am writing to express my/our strong support for the nomination of the former Mill Neck Bay Marina property in Locust Valley in the category of open space acquisition through Nassau County’s 2006 Environmental Program Bond Act.  Not only does this project nomination satisfy the vast majority of the evaluation factors for open space acquisition, but it also meets many of the evaluation factors for both brownfield remediation and stormwater quality improvement.

As the nomination notes, it would be astounding if any other single property nominated were to more closely represent these evaluation factors. 

The project will greatly benefit the Oyster Bay/Cold Spring Harbor estuary, which boasts a number of important designations including, but not limited to the Oyster Bay National Wildlife Refuge, a Regionally Important Natural Area, Significant Coastal Fish and Wildlife Habitat areas, and an Audubon Important Bird Area.  In addition the project will benefit the local neighborhood by cleaning up a visual blight and enhancing property values that have been adversely affected by the presence of a contaminated property, which in 2006 was, designated a state superfund site. The benefit extends all the way to the county and regional level by protecting a body of water that is critical to the regions economic, recreational, historic and aesthetic character.

Thank you for taking my support into consideration.

Sincerely,