Bethpage-Tribune_2004-09-24

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SERVING BETHPAGE, ISLAND TREES, OLD BETHPAGE, PLAINVIEWf SEAFORD AND PLAINEDGE
VOL. 42 NO. 33 September 17 -23, 2004 3 o
TF FORTY CENTS
Questions and Answers:
Bethpage Community Park Contamination Update
Residents Concerns and Questions Answered at Public Meeting
A public availability session was
held on June 24 at the Bethpage
Community Center in regard to the
contamination found at the
Bethpage Community Park. The
following is a summary of the
questions or comments heard from
many residents at that meeting.
Please bear in mind that, for the
purposes of this summary, similar
questions were combined or
expanded to allow for a more
complete answer.
Extent of contamination:
Q: What is the status of off-site
investigations? Will any more
sampling be done in the
neighborhoods?
R: Currently, Northrop Grumman
and the NYSDEC are in the process
of negotiating an Order on Consent,
a legal document necessary to
complete all the work at the
Bethpage Community Park. In the
interim, Grumman has decided, of
their own accord, to begin working
on investigating the potential for any
offsite migration of impacted
groundwater on their access road
immediately south of the Bethpage
Park.
Q: Is contamination reaching
drinking water?
R: Chemicals associated with
Northrop Grumman identified in the
subsurface soils of the Bethpage
Park have not impacted public water
supply wells. In addition, drinking
water supply wells and upgradient
sentry wells for the municipal wells
are routinely sampled to determine if
any contamination, including any
site related contamination, may
potentially impact drinking water
supplies. A remedial program wouid
then be put in place before the
supply would be impacted.
Q: A couple of the samples
seemed to show arsenic levels
above the state cleanup standard.
Sale of Borella Field
Vote to be Held on Oct. 5
Registration Dates and Public Hearing Scheduled
On Tuesday, October 5, 2004
residents of the Bethpage School
District will be asked to vote on a
proposal that would allow the Board
of Education to sell 11.1 acres of
land on the southeast corridor of
Plainview road, known as Borella
field, to the Town of Oyster Bay.
Proceeds from the sale will be used
to reduce taxes and provide capital
improvements at the District's schools.
If you are not registered to vote in
the November general election, you
must register at one of two special
voter registration days for the
October 5, 2004 referendum. The
first registration date will be on
Saturday, September 18, 2004 from
10 a.m. -1 p.m. in the Bethpage
School District Administration
Building Boardroom located at 10
Cherry Avenue at the corner of
Cherry and Stewart Avenues next to
Bethpage High School. The second
registration date is Wednesday,
September 29, 2004 from 1 p.m. - 8
p.m. in the Bethpage High School
lobby. Absentee ballot applications
may be obtained from the District
Clerk at the Administration Building
and are available up until 5 p.m. on
Monday, October 4, 2004. All
absentee ballots must be received
in the District Clerk's Office by 5 p.m.
on October 5, 2004 in order to be
counted.
By law, a public referendum must
be held to approve the sale of
Borella Field. A public hearing on
the referendum is scheduled for
Tuesday, September 28, 2004 in
the Bethpage High School
Auditorium, beginning at 8 p.m. All
Bethpage School District residents
are invited to attend.
The Town of Oyster Bay has
agreed to purchase Borella Field
from the District for a price of $4.25
million using open space land
acquisition bonds, also known as
the SEA Fund (Save our
Environmental Assets). This is a
dedicated fund that must be used
for open space preservation. This
means, if the sale is approved, the
Town is legally bound to keep
Borella field a park, never to be
developed. The Town has indicated
that it would authorize future funds
to provide upgrades to the park.
Will this be addressed?
R: The values of arsenic will be
reviewed during the preliminary
screening process, along with the
other soils analytical data, to
determine if any action is required.
However, the initial review does not
indicate that a remedial action
objective for arsenic will be
necessary.
Q: There seem to be a few off-site
properties with contamination.
How did this happen?
R: At the present time, it is not
clear how the surficial contamination
reached several of the homes
adjacent to the Grumman Access
road. We could speculate, but
regardless of how the soil got there,
these areas of limited soil
contamination will be addressed as
part of any comprehensive remedial
plan for the Bethpage Community
Park.
Q: Effects on property values of
nearby homes?
R: There are many factors that
determine property values,
including the local economy and
health of the local real estate market.
With the upcoming full scale
remediation at the park, it is not
envisioned that there will be any
impacts on the surrounding
(Continued on page 7)
Groundwater Contamination
Remediation Update
The United States Navy will be
conducting pre-design field
activities in the area of South
Herman Avenue, North Herman
Avenue, South Windhorst, and
North Windhorst Avenues starting in
October 2004. This work is in
support of a regional groundwater
remedy and specifically addresses
deep groundwater contamination in
this area. The pre-design field
activities will be completed this
winter. Installation of the final
remedy is planned for summer/fall
2005.
The pre-design activities consist
of the installation of several
groundwater monitoring and
extraction wells located in street
right-a-ways near South Herman
Avenue and the southern end of
North Windhorst as well as within the
New York State Department of
Transportation's right-of-way along
the Seaford-Oyster Bay
Expressway. After the wells are
installed, groundwater will be
pumped from the wells to temporary,
21,000-gallon tanks to be located in
the power line right-a-way, between
South Herman and North Windhorst.
During the pre-design activities,
nine wells will be installed. A drill rig
will be used to install wells up to 500
feet below ground surface. A similar
rig has installed wells in the area over
the past several years. Each well will
take between one and three weeks
to install. The wells will be installed
Monday through Friday during
normal working hours. After the
wells are installed and testing is
completed, only a flush-mounted,
steel cover and concrete pad will be
visible.
The Department of Navy, in
conjunction with the New York State
Department of Environmental
Conservation (NYSDEC) will be
sponsoring an informational meeting
that will be held at the Bethpage
Community Center, 103 Grumman
Road West, Bethpage, New York,
on Thursday, September 23, 2004.
You are invited to attend. The
meeting is informal and will consist of
a series of posters that explain the
history of the project and planned
activities. Representatives from the
Navy and NYSDEC will be present
from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM to answer
questions.
For more information, please
contact: Mr. James Colter (Code
EV21/JLC) Engineering Field
Activity, Northeast Naval Facilities
Engineering Command, 10
Industrial Highway, Mail Stop 82,
Lester, Pennsylvania 19113-2090.
Telephone: 610-595-0567,
extension 163.
Mr. William Fonda, New York
State Department of Conservation,
Region I, Division of Public Affairs,
State University of New York
Campus, Building 40, Stony Brook,
New York 11790-2356. Telephone:
631-444-0249.