Filed Under: Local | Long Island | Nassau

Beach in Hempstead

Hempstead Town Hall
One Washington Street
Hempstead, NY 11550
(516) 489-5000
www.townofhempstead.org

The town of Hempstead, the most populous township in the United States, is racially and economically diverse. It is represented by a presiding supervisor and six town council members. The council is elected to staggered four-year terms. The supervisor is elected for a two-year term.

The Town Clerk’s office maintains town board records and records town ordinances, local laws, zoning ordinances, maps and all other records pertinent to licensing and permitting in the town.

The Department of General Services Administration directs 14 divisions and subdivisions, including Public Works, Street Lighting, and Energy Conservation.

The Public Works Division supervises highway and drainage improvements and water supply facilities and coordinates the town’s energy and fuel conservation programs.

The Department of Conservation and Waterways is responsible for the preservation of 17,000 acres of wetland, water quality monitoring, and drinking water laboratories for the water districts.  Bay Constables enforce navigation laws and shellfish statutes and pump out stations.  This department is also responsible for environmental reviews for all projects proposed to the town.

The Hempstead Water Department is responsible for providing adequate quality drinking water for town residents not serviced by private utilities or village-operated water districts are: Bowling Green Estates, East Meadow, Levittown, Lido-Point Lookout, Roosevelt Field, and Uniondale.

The Department of Sanitation services the entire Town of Hempstead for its solid waste planning.  It oversees the disposal of approximately 492,000 tons of garbage each year.

Town of Hempstead Issues

Solid Waste

Virtually all of Hempstead’s waste is incinerated with the exception of yard waste, which is separated and trucked to Brookhaven for disposal. American Ref-Fuel, a private company that opened in the town of Hempstead in 1989, manages a minimum of 540,000 tons of waste every year.  A methane gas conversion system converts methane generated by the incinerator to energy which is bought by Long Island Power Authority at the rate of $.06 per kilowatt hour.

A curbside recycling program is managed by the Town Sanitation Department and a STOP (Stop Throwing Out Pesticides) program collects household pollutants at designated collection sites at various times during the year.  The town of Hempstead holds ten “STOP DAYS” a year at various locations around the town. 

Involved agencies: A volunteer Solid Waste Advisory Committee advises the Town on incinerator matters. The Hempstead Department of Sanitation is located in Merrick.

Toxic Waste Sites

Several federal and state toxic waste sites are located in Hempstead, creating public health concerns.

Federal Superfund Sites

Franklin Square – Genzale Plating Co.
This facility is located in a residential area thereby its plating waste discharge imposes bigger threat to the health of the residents.  This was a disposal site for heavy metal plating wastes such as hexavalent chromium, nickel, zinc, and copper, which were discharged into at least four on-site leaching pits until 1981. The site is divided into two operable units: operable unit #1 (OU-1) deals with on-site source, the leaching pits and operable unit #2 (OU-2) that deals with off-site groundwater contamination.  A Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study (RI/FS) has been completed. EPA signed the Record of Decision (ROD) in 1991 for OU-1 and the filed work on implementing a Remedial Action for OU-1 was completed in 1997.  A RI/FS was completed for OU-2 in 1995 and ROD was issued in 1995. 

Garden City – Pasley Solvents & Chemicals, Inc.
Groundwater and soil contamination form fuel oil, gasoline, solvents, and hydrochlorinated carbons took place at this site until it closed in 1982.  A Potentially Responsible Party (PRP) funded a Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study (RI/FS) that has been completed for this site and an amended Record of Decision (ROD) was signed in 1995. The amended ROD called for remediation of the groundwater and soils both on and off sites with the usage of air sparging combined with soil vapor extraction.  The ROD became operational in 1997 and 1,838 pounds of VOC contaminated was removed by this extraction system in year 2000. This site is under the final National Priorities List (NPL). 

State Superfund Sites

Hempstead – American Drive-In Cleaners
This site has experienced tetrachloroethylene contamination in excess of state guidelines. A Nassau County Department of Public Works and the Nassau County Health Department investigated and found that a comprehensive test and cleanup of the soil was needed. The site was notified to the State Superfund for a RI/FS in 1997.  The site was divided into two operable units, on and off sites.  A ROD is scheduled

Freeport
A 1988 spill of a potentially cancer-causing chemical, 1,1,1-trichloroethane (TCA), into a drainage system and Freeport Creek caused lingering soil and groundwater contamination. Burmah Castrol, Inc., a private company has signed a Consent Order with the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation for developing and implementing a remedial program for Freeport Creek.  Phase 1 RI and the field work for Phase 2 RI are both completed. 

Hempstead – Harder Tree Service
In 1984, hundred gallons of methoxychlor were spilled on this site. Multiple chemical spills into the sole source aquifer took place at this site, affecting nearby homes and wells. The site was notified to the Division of Environmental Remediation (DER) for remediation with State Superfund money. The Potentially Responsible Party’s assessment in 1999 indicated that significant levels of pesticides are still present in on-site soils, groundwater, and leaching pools.  The NYS Department of Environmental Conservation negotiated RI/FS consent order with the Potentially Responsible Party in 2000; RI field work began in February 2001. 

Garden City – Purex-Mitchell Field
A county-owned property on which MTA/Long Island bus garage is stationed. Chemical solvent processing contaminated the groundwater at this site.  The state and the county are working together to protect public water sources.

Hempstead – Roosevelt Field
High levels of trichloroethylene (TCE) and 1,2-dichloroethlyene and tetrachloroethylene (PCE) have been found at the site of this former airfield. A plume contaminating the Magothy aquifer stretches more than one mile south to southwest over the site. Comprehensive testing and a cleanup of the soil and groundwater is needed, but the DEC has not yet put forth a plan of action.

Suspected Sites
Two possible Superfund sites are the Autotronic site at Oceanside where heavy metals and 1,1,1-trichloroethane may be contaminating the groundwater, and the Schenk Bus site in Floral Park where lead, cadmium and chromium, benzene, toluene, and xylene wastes have created public health and groundwater concerns.

For up to date information on these and other contaminated or suspected contaminated sites, call NYS Department of Environmental Conservation and request the DEC Hazardous Waste Guide or call the Long Island DEC Hazardous Waste Engineer (These numbers are in Chapter 6.)

Villages of Hempstead

There are 20 incorporated villages in the Town:

Contact the village offices for questions relating to village matters. Each village has an elected mayor and board of trustees. They are responsible to the residents for laws, codes, and ordinances that govern the village.