Community Rallies For The Eagles

Members of the Centerport Harbor Civic Association rally on Route 25A in Centerport Saturday to urge town officials to protect the habitat of bald eagles living near Mill Pond. Photo/Centerport Harbor Civic Association

By Connor Beach

cbeach@longislandergroup.com

Huntington officials said Monday they are taking steps to protect Mill Pond in Centerport after residents raised concerns about the environmental impacts from run off at a construction site in the area.

The construction site is near where a pair of bald eagles are nesting.

Huntington spokeswoman Lauren Lembo said Supervisor Chad Lupinacci and staff from the Maritime Services and Building Departments met with “concerned residents” to discuss how construction at the site of the old Thatched Cottage may be affecting water quality in Mill Pond and possible negative effects on the bald eagles living near the pond.

Town officials said on Jan. 24 residents first reported seeing an oil slick in storm water runoff near the site where the Port Jefferson-based Crest Group are constructing a new catering venue called Water’s Edge.

Lembo said town Maritime Services, Suffolk Department of Health and state DEC officials all inspected the site, and test results showed “zero evidence of contamination.”

“In a meeting with several concerned Centerport residents on Friday, the town was able to assure all in attendance that while all testing has returned zero evidence of contamination, we will be taking an extra, proactive step to ensure our water stays its cleanest and our winged friends can safely enjoy the beautiful habitat in which they have taken up residence,” Lupinacci said in a statement Monday.

Though no evidence was found of hazardous material entering Mill Pond, town officials installed a boom near the seawall at the construction site as a preventive measure to protect the habitat. The boom was described as “a sponge-like material designed soak up any residue in the water, including the sediment, oil and other substances brought in from the harbor with the tide, storm water runoff from Route 25A, and runoff from the land surrounding the pond.”

Dom Spada, deputy director of Maritime Services, told residents the boom should be in place by Friday.

Tom Knight, co-president of the Centerport Harbor Civic Association, attended Monday’s meeting with town officials, and said in an interview Wednesday residents were still awaiting the instillation of the boom and written reports of the town’s inspections.

The presence of nesting eagles on Centerport’s Mill Pond are one reason residents complained to town officials over conditions caused by construction at the former Thatched Cottage . Photo/Rainey Sepulveda

 “We all love the eagles, and we’d hate to see anything happen to them especially because of any run off from a construction site,” Knight said.

Around 50 members of the CHCA rallied Saturday on Route 25A in Centerport. Knight said the group hoped to raise awareness of “our concerns that the Water’s Edge construction site needed to be monitored closely by Town of Huntington officials” and “the overdevelopment in Centerport along the 25A corridor.”

Knight said the group’s members were also concerned about the proposed construction of a 7-Eleven on Little Neck Road and increasing traffic in the area.

Christina Whitehurst, Director of Sales, Catering and Marketing for Water’s Edge, said the new venue benefits “if the environment and the community thrive along with our business.”

“We are working to rebuild a beautiful waterfront events facility so we have no intention of polluting the lovely water or environment that surrounds it,” Whitehurst said. “The DEC report speaks for itself in regards to the unfounded claims of abuse to the environment.”

New Stewards Watch Over Grist Mill

The Van Wyck-Lefferts Tide Mill and the Mill Cove Waterfowl Sanctuary will be repaired and preserved under new ownership and stewardship. Photo courtesy Richard Hamburger

By Sophia Ricco

sricco@longislandergroup.com

The Van Wyck-Lefferts Tide Mill and the Mill Cove Waterfowl Sanctuary will live to see many more days.

Previously gifted to The Nature Conservancy by local residents, the organization felt their efforts are best spent protecting other Long Island lands and waters. They transferred the 17-acre parcel to a newly formed non-profit whose mission is to support responsible public access and enjoyment of the mill.

“We are a group of neighbors who enjoyed seeing the mill and felt it was important to protect the mill and preserve the site,” Van Wyck-Lefferts Tide Mill Sanctuary president Richard Hamburger said.

The historic gristmill was built in approximately 1794 in what is now the Village of Lloyd Harbor. At the time the area was predominately agricultural. The mill processed grains harvested on Long Island into flour. A hundred years later, technology advances brought steam-driven rolling mills.

“Inside the building you’ll find its original wooden gears and buffalo leather belts,” Hamburger said. “This is an interesting anomaly because that technology was replaced by steam rollers and steel chains in the mid-19th century. The owner at the time chose not to invest in this new technology so as a result he used obsolete technology for another 50 years.”
As time has gone on, it has become known as the best-maintained 18th-century tidal gristmill in the country.

“This one is very important to the history of American gristmills because it’s still in its original location and incredibly well-preserved,” Hamburger said.

The organization plans to repair and restore the site, through projects, funded by State grants and community contribution. The first project they will tackle in the spring is fixing the pond’s dam to prevent overtoppings. The repair will harden the dam’s structure and hold soil in through planting appropriate marsh grasses.

“Climate change has caused the overtoppings to become more frequent,” Hamburger said. “Starting with Superstorm Sandy, there has been significant erosion to the North end of the damn. Our first project of physical reconstruction is to stabilize the dam.”

The organization has partnered with the Huntington Historical Society to expand tours and other public education activities. However, the society can only run 10-15 tours a season since access is by water and boats can only be docked during high tide.

“They have the expertise to conduct the tours, their volunteers learn the history,” Hamburger said.

Hamburger believes the site would be interesting to historians, academics and environmentalists who could study the cove and mill.

“It has stood there with great dignity for 225 years, it’s seen the changes of Lloyd Harbor,” Hamburger said. “Historic structures help us understand where we came from and that the world does change.”

Kean Seeks ‘Middle Ground’ Amid Apartment Showdown

Residents pack into the town board meeting room last Thursday for a ZBA hearing on plans to construct an 84-unit luxury apartment building in Huntington village.
Long Islander News photo/Connor Beach

By Connor Beach
cbeach@longislandergroup.com

The Huntington Zoning Board of Appeals was forced to adjourn a public hearing last week on developers’ plans to construct a four-story, 84-unit luxury apartment building in Huntington village because there were too many people.

In an interview Wednesday evening, the project’s developer John Kean said he and his team would meet to “reassess the situation” following the outpouring of opposition by Huntington residents. He said they would determine if any alterations would be make to the proposal.

Kean said efforts would be made to reach out to people who opposed the project to see if they could “find some middle ground.” However, he added that groups opposed to the development have so far not been very receptive to his team’s efforts to discuss the project.

Hundreds of residents converged on town hall on Jan. 24 for the hearing on a proposed 271,000-square-foot building that would require the demolition and re-construction of five lots fronting Main Street, Gerard Street and Stewart Avenue.

A capacity crowd packed into the town board meeting room, and ZBA chairman John Posillico estimated some 300 more overflowed into the hallways.

A side elevation of the development as seen from Gerard Street.

Huntington-based attorney Jim Margolin, who is representing Kean and property owner Alan Fromkin, began the hearing with an in-depth presentation on the proposed development. After about 45 minutes Posillico told the audience the hearing would have to be postponed because the lone speaker for those listening in the hallway had stopped working.

Posillico said the people in the hallways outside of the town board room would not be able to participate in the public hearing if they could not hear what was being said. He added that if the meeting continued its legality could be questioned, and a court could order a “do over.”

“I know you’re all here; I know the presenter is hear ready to present,” Posillico said. “But if it is irregular in the way that it is now we can’t have full participation because people can’t hear what’s going on.”

Many in the audience had signed up to speak against the proposed development, which would require seven variances from the ZBA, including for building height and parking relief.

At their Jan. 23 meeting, Huntington Planning Board members voted to “strongly recommend that the ZBA denies all requested variences,” according to town documents. In their recommendation, the planning board members determined the “stories and number of apartments will result in an undesirable change in the character of the village.”

In an interview last week, Kean said the proposed mix-used building would include retail and restaurant space in addition to the apartments. Plans also call for a 127-space, below-grade parking garage on the Gerard Street side of the development, an aspect of the development Kean said would improve parking in Huntington village.

Members of Save Huntington Village, a group of residents opposed to what they say is the overdevelopment of Huntington village, sent out a mailing earlier this month encouraging people to attend the ZBA hearing and oppose the development.

Several members of Save Huntington Village spoke during the public portion of Tuesday’s town board meeting to express some of the concerns they were unable to bring up at last week’s adjourned ZBA hearing.

“How is this proposal even getting oxygen when it requires so many departures from explicitly written town code and New York State ZBA guidelines,” Save Huntington Village member Barbra Suter said.

The group urged Supervisor Chad Lupinacci and the rest of the town board to amend the C-6 zoning in Huntington village “to limit apartment building based on impacts to quality of life, traffic, parking, and environmental considerations for Huntington's residents.”

The building’s height and a parking deficiency of 135 spaces are chief among the issues cited by opponents of the project.

Kean said the proposed building would not exceed the 45-foot height limit mandated under town code. The project is considered four stories because town code counts a parking garage as a floor, even though parking garage will function like a walkout basement along Gerard Street, according to Kean.

“On Main Street you’re not going to see much of a change at all,” Kean said. “You are going to see a change on Stewart and Gerard, but we’re going to do it in a motif that’s in keeping with what Huntington looks like.”

Kean said, if constructed, the building would “enhance” Huntington village by increasing the number of people within walking distance of shops and restaurants in the downtown area without increasing traffic.

“I don’t want to do anything that’s going to ruin our town, but retail is dying and main streets are hurting,” Kean said.

The ZBA voted unanimously to adjourn last week’s hearing. Posillico said the meeting would be rescheduled at “an appropriate venue” as soon as possible.