The-Leader_2005-03-10

              Hi^ Is®!?, iSlia. lif \¥miBpm% sSillXl'2®2®
Ite €<0ii»H!ni!i)Kiillf ii@«i^paifi@.r
^ffti(3ins«Ji9% mmm 1LB, 2IH3®
JUNIOR TROOP 2342 Scouts visit the FFD at the 16th Annual Fire Presen­tation Expo. On right, Junior Scouts at the IVlemorial Day Parade. For more Scouts images see pages 7 and 27.
Spending $S0 million on N^jsup'^s environment
by Laura Schofer
What will Nassau County do with the $50 million dollars voters agreed to spend to preserve our environment? In the first of three meetings conducted by the Environmental Advisory Committee, appointed by Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi, the public was invited to discuss how they can nominate projects that will "preserve and protect the envi­ronmental quality of Long Island," said Dr. Brian Muellers, chairman of the com­mittee. The public hearing was held at West Hempstead High school for resi­dents in the Town of Hempstead.
Last November, Nassau County resi­dents passed a $50 million environmental bond that will help to fund projects in four areas: open space and parkland acquisition, parkland improvement, storm water quality improvement and brownfields remediation.
Tom Maher, environmental coordinator for Nassau County, told residents that although the law does not require the cre­ation of the Environmental Advisory Committee, County Executive Thomas Suozzi wanted the process "to be trans­parent." Dr. Muellers added that "we want people to understand the nuts and bolts process we will use to evaluate proj­ects."
Private individuals as well as civic groups, environmentalists or land preser­vationists can nominate a project. Individuals or groups are being asked to submit a form that can be downloaded from the county website at www.nas- saucountyny.gov. The form asks that you nominate a property or project under a specific category. A description of the project or property must be included as well as its location. Nominations must be.
postmarked by April 15. Only mailed forms will be accepted.
Mr. Maher said that the county, execu­tive hopes to get the legislature to look at the final recommended projects by the fall of 2005.
A number of criteria will be used to evaluate each project. For example, proj­ects that could improve parklands include the following criteria: significant physical and natural features, environmental and community value, public resource value, urgency (does it correct an immediate threat to a recreational resource), area of benefit, (neighborhood, village, town, county), level of maintenance required to maintain the proj­ect and finally, who will be responsible (county, town, private group) for the mainte­nance once the project is completed? "This will be a lengihy process," explained Dr. Muellers. Each project will be reviewed by the committee with the assistance of county departments includ­ing planning, real estate, public works, parks, economic advisory, coujaty attor­ney's office, the budget office and minor­ity affairs, among others.
If the project involves land or park acquisition it will then be passed on to the Open Space and Parks Advisory Committee (OSPAC) and the Nassau County Planning Commission before being passed on to the county executive. Once Mr. Suozzi has reviewed these proj­ects, he will pass them onto the Nassau County Legislature which must approve of the project with bi-partisan support, which means it must pass with a super majority vote of 13.
"We have been fighting for open space for a long time. We finally created an open space plan and then this bont act..."
If the project involves parkland improvement, stormwater quality improvement or brownfield remediation, the committee's recommendations will go directly to County Executive Thomas Suozzi and then to the legislature. These projects will also need bi-partisan support to pass.
Dr. Muellers said that the committee will look at both small and large projects that represent all geographic areas of Nassau County. ""We also are looking to find a balance between all kinds of proj­ects," he said. Dr. Muellers added that "maintenance criteria will be very impor­tant to these projects. It could be better if a project does not need too much
mamtenance.
Richard Schary, a local activist and board member of the Long Island Greenbelt Trail Conference, told the committee that "the bond act is not for maintenance. That is the county's responsibility and we will put pressure on the county to maintain our parks. This money is not "for ordinary maintenance." Seaford activist Christine Marzigliano also had concerns about "spetiding capi­tal funds but have no maintenance behind it. Once we improve or buy, it has to have some level of maintenance." Mrs. Marzigliano mentioned that the marina at Wantagh Park was desperately in need of being replaced.
The Nassau County park system con­sists of over 6,000 acres of parks, pre­serves, museum and historic sites. Here along the South Shore of Long Island maintenance of our parks - including Coes Neck and Cow Meadow - has been an ongoing problem since the early
1990s. . ,
In the past Bruce Piel, chairman of Park Advocacy and Recreation Council of Nassau (PARCnassau) told The Leader that "in 1992 there were 800 employees. Now we are down to 215."
In a press release sent to The Leader Mr. Piel recently said that "only by immediately instituting a major hiring and training program, designed to. double the number of annual employees, can we hope to see a partial turn-around." He added that "the current park administra­tion has shown its preference for cosmet­ic improvements rather than basic servic­es with little or no backup."
Mrs. Marzigliano urged the committee to "have our parks surveyed in order to stop encroachment issues. People [private citizens] shouldn't encroach on our land. They put in boccie courts, plant peach trees and remove indigenous plants and tiees."
She added that "when we are looking at capital improvements we must under­stand the difference between parks and preserves. No physical improvements should be made to preserves [which require low maintenance verses parks which require high maintenance]. All that should be in a preserve are some walk­ways and benches, certainly not gaze­bos."
Mr. Schary added that "we have been fighting for open space for a long time. We finally created an open space plan and then this bond act." He added that the "county should not trade open space. If we need additional soccer fields, don't pull down trees. Let's think about using school district fields instead. We have a lot of schools [with fields] but very little precious open space left in the county."