Filed Under: Local | Long Island | Nassau

Beach at Oyster Bay

Town Hall
54 Audrey Avenue
Oyster Bay, NY 11771
www.oysterbaytown.com

The Town Supervisor is the chief executive and treasurer of the Town and serves on the Board with six elected Board members. The Supervisor serves a two-year term; the Board members are elected to four-year terms. The Board has the final responsibility for all matters pertaining to the operation of the Town, excluding the incorporated villages. It exercises this authority in the form of local laws, ordinances, and resolutions.

The Town Board conducts regularly scheduled public meetings on matters relating to zoning, budget, and public safety. In 2004 the Town created a new Department of Environmental Resources to focus on long-range planning for the preservation, conservation and protection of the Town’s natural resources. The department consists of four divisions – Environmental Planning, Conservation and Outreach, Animal Shelter and Wildlife Rehabilitation, Town Environmental Quality Review, and Solid Waste Disposal and Landfill Remediation. In addition, the Town is also reinstituting its Environmental Control Commission to develop a working relationship with the environmental community and ensure the Town is meeting the environmental needs of its residents.

In Oyster Bay, the majority of residents do not live in incorporated villages and therefore all services that would otherwise be provided by village government are the responsibility of the Town of Oyster Bay.

Oyster Bay decided against an incinerator, instead opting to truck much of its solid waste to landfill sites in Pennsylvania. The Town has ensured that these sites are double lined and have a leachate collection system to prevent ground pollution.

In its nineteenth year, the Town’s STOP program for household hazardous waste is one of the state’s largest and, unlike most other towns, Oyster Bay has its own solid waste and recycling collection crews. The Town has revitalized its own Town Government Recycling Program and in 2003, a pilot cardboard recycling program was started for businesses. In 2004, the Town will have the first regularly scheduled electronics (e-waste) recycling programs on Long Island.

Open Space

In 2000, voters approved the SEA (Save Environmental Assets) Fund, a $30 million bond proposition. $20 million of the fund is directed towards the acquisition and preservation of environmentally sensitive lands, while $10 million has already been spent on upgrades and improvements to parks and recreational facilities town-wide.

$5 million of the SEA Fund was used to purchase about 14 acres of the former Liberty Industrial Finishing Site for the expansion of Ellsworth W. Allen Town Park. The federal EPA is currently conducting an SL-3 level cleanup at the Liberty site, which includes the removal of more than 73,000 yards of contaminated soil.

After nearly three decades of bargaining and litigation, Oyster Bay has purchased, with SEA Fund money, about 50 acres on the Underhill Property, one of the largest remaining open spaces in the county. The Town has committed to $7.5 million of the $20 million price tag, the rest of which will be covered by the County and the State. The Town must complete a management plan between the Town, County, and State for the site.

In addition to these SEA Fund purchases, the Town has closed on a property in Hicksville and is at various stages of purchasing several more parcels (Massapequa, Bethpage, Oyster Bay, and a second property in Hicksville). In 2004 Oyster Bay voters approved a $30 million bond issue. Half of the money will go to the acquisition of open space and parkland, and half will go for park improvements.

The Town is in the process of developing and adopting an Aquifer Overlay District and new recreational zoning to further protect open space.

The Town owns eight beaches, seven parks, five pools, and three marinas.

Toxic Waste Sites

The following seven federal Superfund sites are located in Oyster Bay. Ownership and responsibility for the cleanup falls to the EPA or DEC and the proprietors, not the Town.

Farmingdale – Liberty Industrial Finishing
Soil and groundwater contamination present. The most immediate dangers have been addressed with the removal and off-site disposal of contaminated soil and other materials. Some 73,000 more cubic yards of contaminated soil will be removed by the EPA, which will also replace a failed groundwater treatment system with a traditional pump-and-treat system.

The Town led the way to ensure that cleanup of the site was to residential standards rather than the lesser standards of commercial cleanup

Glenwood Landing – Applied Environmental Services
Soil and groundwater VOCs contamination, including xylene and toluene, posed a health hazard. By 1996, construction was completed, following the removal of approximately 14 tons of contaminated sludge and two 700,000-gallon underground tanks. Groundwater pump and treatment system continues, including the treatment of nearly 11 million gallons of contaminated groundwater from 1995 to 2002.

Hicksville – Anchor Chemicals
High levels of lead, chromium and volatile organic compounds were found, posing a threat to public water wells. Approximately 21 tons of contaminated soil were removed, prompting the EPA to declare no further action needed. The site was removed from the National Priority List in 1999.

Old Bethpage Landfill
Chromium aluminum hydroxide sludge and other chemicals and waste materials are present. Measures have been taken to reduce groundwater contamination, including the capping of the landfill and the construction of gas and leachate collection systems. From April 1992 to December 2001, 3.75 billion gallons of contaminated groundwater were treated. Although the treatment system continues, the EPA declared all construction complete in 1993 and considers the threat to be greatly diminished.

The groundwater treatment facility which treats up to 1.5 million gallons per day is also currently treating a portion of the Claremont plume under agreement with the US EPA.

Syosset Landfill
Metal and chemical contaminants are present. Tests showed migration of the contaminants through soil and groundwater. In 1998 the EPA considered all construction, including a cap, complete and claims that all health risks have thus been eliminated.

Coastal Issues

Oyster Bay has built two floating pump-out stations and two pump-out vessels which provide boaters with readily accessible facilities for their sanitary systems at Tappen Marina, Oyster Bay Harbor, and Tobay Marina.

The former Jakobson Shipyard on Oyster Bay Harbor was a highly contaminated site, but has been efficiently remediated by Melrose Marine. Custom designed multi-layered protective booming and netting were used to prevent accidental dispersal of contaminants into the harbor during cleanup. The site, now known as Oyster Bay Harbor Park, was jointly purchased by the Town and State and is being developed into a passive waterfront park. Among its tenants is The Waterfront Center, a not-for-profit marine education and recreation center.

Fishing in Oyster Bay

The Town is actively involved in various watershed protection groups, specifically the Hempstead Harbor Protection Committee and the South Shore Estuary Reserve Council, and has worked to develop and implement the goals of the Oyster Bay/Cold Spring Harbor Management Plan, the Glenwood Landing Waterfront Revitalization and Restoration Plan, the SSER Comprehensive Management Plan, the Hempstead Harbor Water Quality Improvement Plan, and the newly completed Hempstead Harbor Management Plan.

The Department of Environmental Resources meets with the baymen and Flower and Sons Oyster Company on a regular basis to address shellfishing concerns and issues. The Town has established a Bay Management Trust Fund to fund shellfish transplants and purchase seed clams. The Town will be installing a FLUPSY (Float Upweller System) shellfish hatchery system on Oyster Bay Harbor during 2004.

Involved Agencies: Department of Environmental Resources

Wetland Preservation

Oyster Bay Refuge

Wetlands restoration projects have been completed at Tappen Beach (Glenwood Landing), and Marjorie Post Park (Massapequa) and are planned for the Western Waterfront and Centre Island Beach (Oyster Bay).

Involved Agencies: Town of Oyster Bay DPW, Department of Environmental Resources

Stormwater Runoff

The Town has implemented a number of stormwater mitigation projects (such as natural filtration through restored wetlands and through mechanical means such as leaching rings) at various locations including Stehli Beach and Seawanhaka Road end in Oyster Bay, Tappen Beach (Glenwood Landing), and several more projects are in the design stages.

The Town is in the final stages of adopting a stormwater management plan to control stormwater runoff discharges. Along with various mitigation projects, the plan will include public outreach and education.

Involved Agencies: Department of Environmental Resources

Golfing in Oyster Bay

Planning

In the past few years Oyster Bay has taken on major planning revisions. In 2001, the revised Zoning Code was adopted. Perhaps the Town’s most ambitious project is "Vision 2020," a master plan that will address several major concerns, including development, recreation and parks, environmental protection, and transportation. The plan is being developed by the Vision 2020 Advisory Committee with the assistance of a private planning firm.

Involved Agencies: Town Supervisor’s Office