Grant will help village with stormwater management and habitat restoration of Mill Creek.

http://portjefferson.patch.com/articles/port-jeff-taking-steps-to-manage-mill-creek-watershed

by: Lon Cohen

Port Jefferson has taken another step toward the remediation of the Mill Creek watershed, according to the village and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYS DEC) with a plan that will open up blockages, remove invasive species of plants and fix stromwater runoff issues.

Mill Creek starts as a small spring at Brook Road near Caroline Avenue Park and winds its way across Barnum Avenue carrying along everything that washes into it–including lawn chemicals and animal waste–dumping it all into the Long Island Sound.

Along with stormwater management concerns, the creek also washes away the outflow of clean water remediated by the Environmental Protection Agency plant in Caroline Avenue Park cleaning toxins from the Lawrence Aviation plume.

So far, Port Jefferson has completed a map of the entire storm water management system, viewable on the village’s website. According to its website, the village is required by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s Clean Water Act to manage and educate the public on the village’s storm sewer systems.

A law that came into effect in 2003, known as StormwaterPhase II, requires authorization for stormwater discharges from what are categorized as Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems (MS4s), according to Bill Fonda of the NYS DEC.

“Operators of regulated MS4s must implement stormwater management programs in accordance with [the law’s] requirements,” said Fonda.

The permits are revised periodically by New York State and Fonda said that most Long Island municipalities have been implementing MS4 stormwater management programs since the law went into effect.

Because the water than runs throught it eventually makes its way into the Long Island Sound, Port Jefferson was recently awarded three grants totaling just under $1 million from the NYS DEC for a project to clean up the Mill Creek Watershed and get rid of any invasive species in the creek. The village will kick in an additional 25 percent of the grant total for the project.

Mayor Margot Garant said that the village is now ahead of the curve when it comes to stormwater management, something that the state will mandate of all municipalities, calling it one of their “pet peeves.”

“They’re very pleased we’re taking initiative,” she said.

The first part of the $1.2 million plan calls for the purchase of what Garant called a “super sucker” machine for $350,000 to vacuum up any blockages in the intake and outtake points along the watershed. The village has already budgeted $87,000 for the purchase.

The second grant of $783,750 will be used for stormwater work and habitat improvements to improve water quality for Mill Creek and Port Jeff Harbor. Work will include replacing under road pipe, installing leaching pools and restoration of the shoreline and pond edge along Brook Road. Along Barnum Avenue, water quality units and bio-filtration system will be installed, phragmites removed and habitat restoration work will be completed.

“From the westerly side of Brook Road to behind Village Hall we’ll pull out all invasive vegetation and replace with native vegetation,” explained Garant.

The third grant of $210,000 will go toward stormwater drainage improvements.

The grants came as part of the NYS DEC’s 2010 Water Quality Improvement Program (WQIP), a competitive program within the state’s Environmental Protection Fund, according to a statement released about the program funding.

The Port Jefferson village board recently awarded a contract to Cashin Associates an engineering company that will do design development, a topographic survey, and environmental permitting, the first steps in the project according to the village.

Specifically, Cashin is getting $24,000 from the Millcreek Infrastructure Improvements and Habitat Restoration Project (NYS DEC Grant Contract C304365) and $25,000 from the East Municipal Parking Lot, Stormwater Mitigation Project (NYS DEC Grant Contract C304367).

The village noted the recent New York State Comptroller’s Office audit when awarding the contract to Cashin in a resolution statement distributed to the public at the February board of trustees meeting.

“The New York State Comptroller’s Office says that one of the most prominent exceptions to competitive bidding is professional services, which includes services rendered by engineers,” the resolution said.

As explained by the village, Cashin Associates was awarded the project planning because it is “intimately aware of the project” and “the cost of consulting and engineering services is public knowledge from the grant and is specified in the grant by category,” making it impossible to use that information in creating an additional request for proposal.

A study recently issued by the stewardship organization Save the Sound reported that the environmental future of Long Island Sound may be in jeopardy. In the 2011 State of the Sound report, Connecticut and New York received a grade of C+ for their combined stewardship efforts over the past year. Among suggestions to help alleviate this problem is to control stormwater runoff.

Managing stormwater runoff is import because chemicals that run into Port Jefferson Harbor destroys the wildlife, according to NYS DEC’s Fonda.

“Stormwater controls will prevent a variety of contaminants biological as well as chemical from getting into Long Island Sound,” he said. “Controlling stormwater has an economic benefit to areas where shellfishing areas are open.”

Fonda says that controlling stormwater will speed the reopening of shellfishing after major storms giving local baymen more opportunities to fish.

Now that the village has the grants in place and the planning has begun, the projects will move forward. Mayor Garant says that she expects the projects will be completed in the next few years.

“The end goal I think is that the project will be complete by 2014,” she said.

Conducted by Supreme Grand Master Galante

You’re invited to attend a Karate demonstration geared for children 5 years old and up. Professor Galante teaches not only the moves, but the philosophy to grow physically, mentally and spiritually through the Martial Arts.

A chance to sign up for beginning lessons will follow the demonstration.

Tuesday, February 28th, 6:15 pm at the Village Center.

Anyone new to the league or interested in joining and/or running a team should attend. Don’t miss out on this opportunity. Call Mickey at 473-4778 with any questions.

By Brittany Wait

PORT TIMES RECORD

Campani and Schwarting Architects presented an updated conceptual urban design and study for the revitalization of upper Port Jefferson Tuesday night, which will accompany the village’s comprehensive master plan.

The architects, Michael Schwarting and Frances Campani, furthered the idea of connecting upper and lower Port by revitalizing North Country Road to the Long Island Rail Road tracks, potentially bringing transit-orientated development that would encourage an intermingling of storefront improvements and housing. Schwarting and Campani had presented this idea at the previous revitalization workshop, on Oct. 5.
“In essence, nothing has changed,” Schwarting said. “We just added more information.” He presented another draft of the study at the public workshop at Village Hall on Jan. 31, specifically to get feedback from the village’s Planning Board and Board of Trustees.

Since the village began forming the comprehensive plan in 2010, it has hired the Port Jefferson-based architects to analyze and study the relationship between new and existing buildings and facades, including streets and sidewalks, among other things.

At the Oct. 5 meeting, some of the roughly 85 residents in attendance had asked for a stronger code enforcement presence and for the village to first clean up the area before considering developing it for commercial use.

The newest draft of the study would increase security in upper Port and proposes to install a police substation near Main Street.

As they did at the October meeting, the architects also provided further details about the idea of creating a neighborhood centered on Main Street and the LIRR, with the goal of encouraging residential development, maintaining commerical vitaility and creating more open space.  It was proposed that the Village provide incentives for developers that build public amenities and afforadable housing.  For open space, Schwarting proposed building an extensive plaza at the train station and a six-acre park on the east side of Highland Boulevard.  The plaza would serve as a visual gateway to Port Jefferson Village from Route 112.

The study also calls for coordination between the LIRR, Suffolk County buses and the Port Jefferson ferry. Schwarting said it’s unlikely that the train and ferry will be able to coordinate schedules, but that the village might be able to get more buses to stop in upper Port.

The study also takes pedestrians into account. Main Street sidewalks are currently 11 feet wide at the southern end of upper Port and taper to 5 feet at North Country and Sheep Pasture roads. In an effort to make a more walkable neighborhood, the study proposes increasing Main Street sidewalk widths, reducing street widths, planting more trees and installing more light fixtures and signage. More specifically, Schwarting said he wants to create more crosswalks and neck-downs — curb extensions at intersections that provide a shorter crossing distance for pedestrians — on Main Street at Linden Place, Perry Street and the train station.

Talking about the revitalization plans as a whole, Mayor Margot Garant emphasized the need to “think outside the box.” For example, she highlighted the idea of underground parking and encouraging common parking areas for multiple locations, which would save space and money.

Upper Port is zoned C-2, but the proposal calls for a change to permit mixed-use, with commercial at ground level and residential above. This, the architects said, would balance a residential neighborhood with commercial development, creating a more pedestrian-friendly area that is less dependent upon parking.

Since 2010, the village Planning Department has received four proposals for new development projects, calling for 17,544 square feet of ground-floor commercial space and 232 residential units. Another four potential projects that have not been officially proposed could replace four vacant plots.

The next step is for the Planning Board to look over the draft and provide suggestions for addressing upper Port’s character. Once the village receives a traffic study report, officials will also be able to tackle the problem of traffic congestion.

Denise Harrington, senior environmental planner on the Planning Board, said, “We will be looking at the goals and themes of what they want the area to look like, block by block, looking for appropriate densities, heights and parking.”

Port Times Record

February 03, 2012

Elana Glowatz

Edna Louise Spear Elementary School’s gymnasium was overrun with potato batteries, a remote-controlled robot, termites, balloons and a miniature tornado Thursday night as young experimenters gathered for the school’s first science fair.

There were 80 projects at the fair and more than 100 students participated, some working on an experiment together, said Jill Russell, PTA president and an organizer of the event. 

In front of one poster board, kids came by, picked up balloons and blew into them as hard and as long as they could. They would then hold them up for Olivia Schlegel, who would wrap the balloons in yellow measuring tape and jot notes into a log book. For the first-grader’s project, “Does age affect lung capacity?” she said she spent about two months gathering data from people to determine who could best blow up a balloon in a single breath. 

After logging information such as gender, age and smoking status of each subject, as well as the circumference in centimeters of the expanded balloon, the six-year-old concluded that age does affect lung capacity. “People between 30 and 40 can blow it up the biggest,” Schlegel said, adding that she expected this result and it was her hypothesis.

She chose this experiment because, “I just know I wanted to pick one with balloons.”

Schlegel was one of the students selected by the judges to move on to Brookhaven National Laboratory’s Science Fair later this year. The judges — Brookhaven Superintendent of Highways John Rouse, Port Jefferson Mayor Margot Garant, Port Jefferson Trustee Bruce D’Abramo, Belle Terre Trustee Bob Sandak and BNL’s Susan Sears — chose one student from each grade to represent the school in the lab’s competition.

Principal Tom Meehan said he thinks the projects have a good chance of winning at that level, and overall the experiments at this science fair were better than he’s seen at other school districts. He said next year, all fifth-graders may be required to participate in the fair. Because English Language Arts and math are pushed so strongly in the curriculum, that could be “one way to promote science in the school and the community.” 

Dylan Scott, a fourth-grader, did a project called “Food Power,” and he worked to find whether an apple, a potato or a lemon had the highest voltage. He said he selected his experiment after reading a book about potato batteries, and because he also like electronics.

Scott, 10, put a zinc-coated nail and a copper penny into each of the foods and measured their voltage using a multimeter. He found that his hypothesis, that the lemon would win due to its acidity, was correct. 

The second grade winner, Henry Russell, set out to discover which type of sound would cause a plant to grow the fastest. The seven-year-old, who is also the son of Jill Russell, said he used country, metal and classical music as well as silence and recorded talking on five plants. His hypothesis was that country music would make a plant grow fastest and tallest. However, after monitoring the plants for a month, he discovered that the plant listening to classical music had the tallest blades of grass and the plant listening to speech had the most blades. The boy said at first the country plant was growing the fastest, but it was overtaken by the classical plant.

Russell said he had a good time doing the experiment, which he selected after hearing that music or talking made plants grow faster. He smiled when he told of how one of the pots, holding the silence plant, broke in the beginning of his project. He turned the plant to show that the pot had since been glued back together. 

The kids weren’t the only ones who brought experiments to the gymnasium. Representatives from Brookhaven National Laboratory, Maritime Explorium, the Long Island Science Center and Stony Brook University’s Center for Science and Math Education had activities for all those who showed.

Joan Kiely, an instructor of biochemistry at SBU, brought a container of termites and set them loose on pieces of paper. Kiely had kids draw lines in ink on the paper and gave them magnifying glasses to watch the termites follow the paths they had drawn. She explained that the termites could sense the ink, and that’s how they were able to follow the squiggles.

Nicolina Giannola was one of the kids watching the termites crawl all over the white computer paper. Her project, on the other side of the gym, incorporated flowers. The six-year-old put white carnations into glasses of colored water and watched them absorb the different colorings, starting only at the tips of the petals. She said as the experiment progressed, the flowers had a “little color and then bigger colors.”

As the gymnasium buzzed with the sounds of science, Superintendent Ken Bossert said he was “thrilled with the level of participation” and the enthusiasm shown by the students in the science fair. “I look forward to watching it grow over the years.”

January 25, 2012

Elana Glowatz

Residents from both sides of the tracks came together at the Port Jefferson Station/Terryville Civic Association meeting Tuesday night to voice concerns about homeless in the area and learn more about local efforts to address the issue.

Guest speaker Ed Hernandez, deputy commissioner of the county Department of Social Services, told the crowd, “Suffolk County right now is suffering some of its worst homelessness.” He said there are roughly 500 homeless families and between 250 and 300 homeless single people.

According to Hernandez, the county can fit about 320 families in its shelters, and there is room for about 150 singles in separate shelters. He said the county also moves 30 to 40 families every month from those shelters into permanent housing.

In response to feelings that some homeless people were turned away from shelters like Port Jefferson’s Pax Christi Hospitality Center and left to wander the streets, Hernandez said social services will not send someone to a shelter if the beds are filled. If a person is turned away for another reason, like intoxication, he is transported back to the place where he was picked up. “We’re simply not going to send somebody over to Pax Christi and have them turned away to wander the streets.”

Some who attended the meeting shared stories of their experiences with homeless in the area. Tony Rotoli, from Port Jefferson Station, said the real issue is homeless people who are publicly intoxicated, harassing others or performing other criminal acts. He also said, “What we do object to is, we’re the dropping point” for homeless people from other areas.

Lee Brett, the Port Jefferson Village fire marshal and a resident of Port Jefferson Station, explained that intoxicated homeless individuals either end up sick or get into a fight, and tie up police and emergency medical services in the area as a result. He also expressed concern about a local homeless person who, he said, once revealed that he was a pedophile. Brett said this person has no address so the school district cannot put him on a list, “but he’s lurking around the area.”

Another man, Charlie McAteer, told the crowd that homeless people had recently gotten into a fight outside a store where his wife was shopping. The resident said his wife had to wait in the store until it was safe to leave. “We’re getting trapped in our own community, folks,” he said. “This is not what we want. … That’s not why I came to live in this area.”

Marge McCuen, a Port Jefferson resident and owner of the Scented Cottage Garden on East Main Street, suggested moving the homeless people to a state facility, such as the now-defunct buildings at the Kings Park Psychiatric Center or Pilgrim Psychiatric Center.

She said anybody could be down on their luck, but “if these people don’t have roots [in Port Jefferson], get them the hell out of here.” The crowd applauded at this idea.

Hernandez explained to the group that while his staff goes to pantries and takes to the streets to provide outreach to homeless individuals, social services cannot force them to go to the shelters. “People are allowed to make bad decisions,” he said, and they are within their rights to decline help.

The deputy commissioner said the issue is “a multipiece puzzle” and other systems have to be a part of the solution. He told the community that the residents have to “make that outcry” if they want to see change come with the help of the police department, the state Office of Mental Health and others.

A Pax Christi staff member also addressed the group Tuesday night, and provided insight into how the shelter operates. Lou Rabeno, a Port Jefferson resident, stressed that the intoxicated homeless people locals see out on the streets are not from Pax Christi. He said those are “chronic homeless” individuals with mental health and drug problems. He also said when a person arrives at Pax Christi but is denied a stay, “we don’t just say, ‘There’s the door. Leave.’” The person goes through social services first. He also said the average stay at the shelter is three days to two weeks, but someone could be there as little as 24 hours or for a longer period of time if he is in a program.

Village Mayor Margot Garant, toward the end of the discussion, said she wants to work with everyone to solve the homeless issue and although there are “many pieces to the puzzle,” the group needs to step up and work together in order to address the problem.

Hernandez stressed that the Port Jefferson area is not being singled out as a dumping ground for homeless people. He said the county has shelters all over and what will make the difference for residents is “getting the other systems to take responsibility.” 

The Port Jefferson School District and the Board of Education are pleased to welcome back the “COMMUNITY FITNESS CENTER” and “COMMUNITY SWIM” programs to the residents of Port Jefferson.  We invite all village residents to come release some stress and spend some time with your friends while being physically active.  The district is able to bring these services back through examining past practices and implementing new practices at a greatly reduced cost to the district.

FITNESS CENTER: The fitness center, located at the HS/MS (350 Old Post Road) will be open beginning on Tuesday, January 3^rd.  The hours of operation are from 5:30 – 7:30 Monday – Thursday (school days only).

SWIMMING POOL: The swimming pool located at Edna Louise Spear Elementary School (500 Scraggy Hill Road) will be open beginning on Wednesday, January 4^th.  The hours of operation are from 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. Monday and Wednesday.

In addition we are offering “ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS ONLY” an opportunity to utilize their swimming skills every Wednesdays from 3:30-4:30, beginning on January 4, 2012.

Please remember, you must bring photo identification proving residency with you to the pool and the fitness center.  We are looking forward to seeing all residents work towards a healthy 2012.

Exhibit traces the history of Lake Ronkonkoma with 120 enlarged photos
On display through February 29, 2012

Enjoy a swim at Duffield’s West Park Beach, book a room at Fielder’s Hotel or buy a cake at Seibert’s Bakery. Watch as the Hawkins Nine plays a baseball game, Maude Adams portrays Peter Pan or Frank Newton drives a horse-drawn sleigh.

You can see all of this and more at the Port Jefferson Village Center where 120 enlarged photos tracing the history of Lake Ronkonkoma are on display now through Feb. 29.

The exhibit, “Mirrors of the Past,” includes rare views of Martin Metzner’s Lake Towers, the Hotel Gables Casino, W. E. Coleman’s General Store, John Kirk’s “Castle” and the Lake Ronkonkoma School.

Vintage images of Straub’s Market, the Ronkonkoma Fire Department, Camp Acadia, the Indian Hill Café, Adolph Wiechers’ Italian Gardens, the motor launch DARK CLOUD and Newton’s Garage are featured.

There are also views of Turner’s Corner Park, the original St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, American Legion William Merritt Hallock Post 155, the Bavarian Inn, iceboats, Hollywood Pavilion and the Cenacle Retreat Center.

Photos of John W. Cleary, first chief of the Ronkonkoma Fire Department; Ann Farnum Curtis, author of THREE WAVES, a history of Lake Ronkonkoma; George C. Raynor, the developer of Raynor’s Lakeview Beach; and Rosemary Cleary, founder of the Cleary School for Deaf Children are displayed.

In addition to photos , the showcases are filled with projectile points, tools, postcards, calendars, books, newsletters and other memorabilia. Maria Hansson captures the grandeur of bygone Lake Ronkonkoma in her painting of the Petit Trianon, an exclusive inn once located at the end of Motor Parkway.

Maps round out the exhibit, including one of the Lake Ronkonkoma environs  in 1917 and another showing the locations of the pavilions, beaches, hotels, inns and restaurants surrounding Lake Ronkonkoma during the 1930s and 1940s.

The photos are from the collections of the Lake Ronkonkoma Historical Society, Helen Hethy Mulvihill, Dolores Holzapfel, Marty Slater, Richard Crucet, Ralph Hilbert and Kenneth Brady.

The images were enhanced, printed and catalogued at the Port Jefferson Digital Archive at Harborfront Park by Brady, who is spearheading a photo preservation project through his work as Port Jefferson village historian.

Robert S. Feather, James Mooney, E. E. Brown, Oscar Stephan and H. S. Conklin are among the talented photographers whose pictures are on display. Some of their work appears in IMAGES OF AMERICA: LAKE RONKONKOMA, a book recently released by Arcadia Publishing  and written by Keith Oswald and Dale Spencer, the latter curator of the Lake Ronkonkoma Historical Society.

The Recreation Department of the Incorporated Village of Port Jefferson, Lake Ronkonkoma Historical Society and Conservancy are sponsoring the exhibit.

The Port Jefferson Village Center is located at 101A East Broadway and is open seven days a week, except holidays, from 9 am to 9 pm. Admission is free.

Call 802-2165 for additional information.

Future Exhibits:

• March – April 2012   A photographic exhibit of the 125th Anniversary of the Port Jefferson Fire Department

will be held Saturday & Sunday, April 28 & 29, 2012, 10 – 5 pm.

Space is available for quality antique vendors

For information call:  631-473-2665
or visit www.portjeff-antiques-garden.com