[From the Village Leader, Dec. 9, 1964]

ILLEGAL DREDGING STOPPED IN GARRETT LEAD WATERS??

(By Harry G. Curran)

The United States Army Corps of Engineers, with headquarters in New York City, late last week ordered a dredging firm to cease its illegal dredging operations in Garrett Lead, South of Oceanside.

This newspaper has been reliably informed that the dredge was operating without permit as late as all through last night, and all day today (November 4, 1964).

Rod Vandivert of Freeport, Chairman of the Hempstead Town Lands Resources Council, who reported the illegal dredging to the Army, told us that at least thirty "Wetlands Watchers" will keep constant vigil on the activity in Garrett Lead. This is to make sure that the operations are not resumed. (As of this writing, they have not yet ceased!)

The illegal operation, Vandivert reported, involved the "Sandpiper," a dredge owned by the Fort Neck Dredging Corporation of Merrick. This sand-mining machine has been filling waterfront property owned by Madison Farms, Inc.

Both Fort Neck Dredging Corporation, and Madison Farms, Inc., have been informed, have been notified by telephone, that a Federal Law is being broken, and an agreement with the Town of Hempstead has been violated.

MADISON FARMS

Madison Farms, Inc., which is a development firm, had obtained a permit to dredge in Garrett Lead from the Town of Hempstead. However, the permit is valueless without the permission of the U.S. Army Engineers.

At the present time, the Army has the application for permit under consideration, and the entire file has been forwarded to Washington, D.C. Said application is strenuously opposed by many local conservation groups and governmental agencies.

FORT NECK DREDGING

When contacted by telephone at the office of the Fort Neck Dredging Corporation in Merrick, a Mr. Polstein declined to make any comment, statement, or rebuttal in behalf of the company which he represents. He did, however, say, in effect, that some newspapers have already indicted the company, and he did not care to reply.

(This reporter has seen firsthand, both from the land side, and the water side, the unbelievable amount of bay bottom that has been spewed up through the pipes in the last two weeks. Your attention is invited to the accompanying photograph.)

HTLRC

Speaking for the HTLRC, Vandivert said that the scrutiny of the Wetlands will continue unabated until "The Town of Hempstead shows us that it intends to protect the bay bottom."

In a recent letter sent to the Town of Hempstead Town Board, Vandivert charged that the dredge in question has been "operating illegally within clear sight of the Oceanside Park and the Town of Hempstead Refuse Disposal Plant, and has been "Blithely ignored by all the parties concerned with the regulation of the Town Waterways and Wetlands."

Night-time dredging in the waters South of Oceanside is an abridgement of Condition No. 10, Resolution No. 2118 of 1962, of the Town of Hempstead, as applied to the original permit to dredge for fill!

Mr. Richard Schreiber of the Madison Farms, Inc., organization, when contacted by telephone, responded with a polite "No comment."

He did say however, that his company would have a lengthy statement forthcoming in the not too distant future, and that this newspaper would be kept informed as to the time of its release.

RVC LAND

Officials of the Village of Rockville Centre moved late last week to take possession of the property fronting on Mill River, and bounded by River Avenue. Residents of the area had petitioned the Village Board to preserve the land

in question as a wildlife sanctuary, and natural park. They have been concerned that the area would be turned into a development.

Mayor W. Harry Lister has noted that the Village announced its intention to condemn the property in 1958. At the Board meeting a resolution was passed to acquire the property either by purchase or condemnation.

SORLEY EJECTED

Dr. Ralph Sorley, who has been Mayor Lister's major opponent and critic, made an attempt to express his thoughts on the matter. He was unsuccessful. After a loud verbal harangue with the Mayor, he was ejected from the meeting. Dr. Sorley said later that the people in the immediate area were being fooled into believing that the site was to be preserved for conservation. He said the Village has intentions to build a marina there.

A study of the feasibility of building a marina has been made by the Village, but, according to Mayor Lister, there is no immediate plan in mind.

Obstructions would first have to be cleared to allow free access to sea by the boats and, secondly, such a plan would require cooperation from other communities.

MARINA POSSIBLE?

According to the Mayor, the most likely site for a marina would be in the area of Lister Park, South of Sunrise Highway. The Village Board is presently discussing the possibility of expanding the park by abandoning the Village's old incinerator next to the park.

Lister said the Village of Rockville Centre would make use of the new Town of Hempstead Refuse Disposal Plant, on Long Beach Road, in Oceanside. This series will continue in the next issue of The Village Leader.

[From the Long Island Press, Jan. 18, 1967]

DREDGE-WEARY HOMEOWNERS FIND THAT MONSTER IS BACK

(By Marsha Kranes)

The dredges are back in Cedar Swamp Channel and the natives are restless

once more.

The channel dividing South Merrick and South Bellmore, has been the scene of many angry battles in recent years.

The latest skirmish started when residents on Shore Road on the Bellmore side of the channel saw a dredge set up shop in the middle of the channel and start dumping fill on the Merrick shore. It looked like the channel was getting narrower and narrower.

After checking, the residents learned that the dredging is being done for Lawrence Estates, a Merrick firm which was denied permission by the county to build a 110-home development on the Merrick side because it "would aggravate present pollution" in the channel.

When the residents found out that the fill dredged from the channel was being used to develop property owned by Lawrence Estates they became enraged. After checking with numerous town and county officials and "getting the run-around," they contacted The Press.

This is what The Press discovered.

The Nassau Planning Commission's rejection of the development plans was appealed by Lawrence Estates and upheld by the Brooklyn Appellate Division, But soon after the court handed down its decision, the planning commission approved the plans "with some minor changes," according to a commission spokesman.

He said the most important of the "minor changes" was a provision that seven lots be set aside for sanitary sewers. However, before these sewers are installed in five or six years, pollution in the channel will increase. Once they are installed the pollution problem reportedly would disappear.

After the commission approved the developer's plans, Hampstead Town issued a dredging premit to Lawrence Estates "to provide navigable access to the bulkhead line and to improve the waterway known as Cedar Swamp Creek."

One of the developers, Harry Firester of Merrick, told The Press that the dredging-started three weeks ago-would be completed in four or five days— "a week at most."

He claimed the channel is not being made narrower, as residents believe. "We're cleaning it out. We're absolutely compelled to do so by the town," he said.

IF ANY sludge falls back into the channel, he said, "it will be cleaned out" Residents however are wary of Firester's claim. They recalled that when they moved into their homes a few years ago the channel was about 700 feet wide.

Then, they claimed, Firester's dredges moved in and narrowed it to 400 feet"creating navigation and pollution problems." When they complained to town officials, Firester was ordered to stop dredging.

"Maybe he'll clean it up," said Mrs. Gerald Schlosser of 3094 Shore Road, Bellmore. "But we've had all sorts of promises in the past that were never kept."

SHE ADDED, "I don't know what we can do though, except to trust them." Her neighbor, Mrs. Jack Herman agreed. "It certainly looks like they're filling in the channel, but we'll have to bide our time to see if they'll clean it out. If they don't, we'll have to find a way to fight it."

She added that she was "very concerned" about the increased pollution expected in the channel in the next few years.

Mrs. Frederick Hacker of 3022 Shore Road was incensed about the pollution problem. She said sanitary sewers should be installed before the new houses are built.

"FOR SIX years, they'll pollution the channel and then, when everything is killed-including our children-they'll put in the sewers," she complained. "I can't understand the county doing this," she said. "So much could happen before the sanitary sewers are installed-if they're ever installed."

She added, too, that the new homeowners "will have an option to hook up to the sewers. They can't be forced to. So the pollution problem might not be remedied."

Mrs. Hacker said she and her neighbors would petition to have the sewers installed before the homes are built.

[From the Long Island Press, Jan. 21, 1967]

DREDGING JOB CALLED ILLEGAL

(By Marsha Kranes)

A Hempstead Town-ordered dredging project in Cedar Swamp Channel is being carried out illegally, according to the Army Corps of Engineers.

The channel, between South Merrick and South Bellmore, is being dredged to provide navigable access to the bulkhead line of a housing development planned for Whaleneck Peninsula, Merrick.

Hempstead Town ordered the dredging and issued a dredging permit to the developer, Lawrence Country Estates, Dec. 5. "The town went to conservation agencies for their comment, before ordering the dredging but not to us. Our permission was required," a corps spokesman told The Press.

He made his statement after a corps inspector visited the dredging site and found "dredging going on in navigable waters."

All navigable waters are under the jurisdiction of the Army Engineers. "We will take action," the corps spokesman said. He added "most of the dredging has been done. There's not much we can do to stop it at this point." He said the town "will be advised of what action should be taken in the future."

Although the dredging firm, Fort Neck Dredging of Merrick, is at fault for not getting Army Engineer approval, he said, "the town did order the project."

Asked if the dredging would have been approved by the engineers, the spokesman said "probably. I can see nothing objectionable. But they should have asked us and we would have investigated."

Before the Army Engineers inspector reported that the dredging operation was illegal, a Hempstead Town spokesman said "no Army Engineer permit is required. They're consulted only when the dredging will affect the existing navigable waterway. We are creating a navigable waterway. "Once we do, then the corps will have jurisdiction over it."

Harry Firester, owner of Fort Neck Dredging Co., denied that the dredging violates federal law.

"A permit was issued a few years ago to Nagean Builders. It's still good," he claimed.

Anyhow, he added, "no permit is required to dredge private property. We deeded the property now being dredge to the town as a gift in 1963 and took on the obligation of widening the waterway and providing access. We're not violating any law, we're just cleaning up."

Long Island conservationist Rod Vandivert of Freeport, who brought the dredging operation to the Army Engineers' attention, disagreed strongly with Firester.

"It's an obvious violation of corps regulations on dredging-a violation of federal law," he charged.

He further claimed the town's issuance of a dredging permit without Corps approval was an illegal act and a breach of faith as far as conservation policy goes.

As for Firester's claim that the dredge is "cleaning up," Vandivert said, "It's reasonably apparent that the work being done is much in excess of that. In addition to removing the sand bar, they're taking clam beds. Local fishermen and clammers are complaining bitterly about this."

He added that "careful inspection will show that unless a great deal more work is done, navigation obstructions will not be removed."

According to Firester, the dredging operation should be completed next week.

Vandivert and several South Bellmore residents claimed the project also violates the town's moratorium on dredging.

"Town officials even testified before Congress that there would be no more dredging of bay bottom for fill," Vandivert charged.

Firester, however, claimed he reserved the right to the bay bottom when he deeded the land to the town.

A town spokesman said the moratorium does not affect "removing a navigation hazard."

The dredging project was criticized earlier this week by Bellmore homeowners who thought the channel was being made narrower.

The same homeowners later became indignant when they learned the housing development planned for the Merrick side of the creek would increase their water pollution problems.

[From the Long Island Press, Jan. 24, 1967]

CONSERVATIONISTS DEMAND REPORT ON "ILLEGAL" LI DREDGING PROJECT

"A full and complete report" on a dredging project ruled illegal by the Army Corps or Engineers has been called for by a group representing Hempstead Town conservationists and sportsmen.

In letters to the Army Engineers, the State Conservation Department, Nassau County and Hempstead Town yesterday, the Hempstead Town Land Resources Council demanded an investigation of dredging in and around Cedar Swamp Channel on the Merrick-Bellmore border.

An Army Engineer Corps inspector last Friday reported that the Hempstead Town-ordered project was being carried out illegally.

All

Although some of the dredging was going on in navigable waters, no permit from the Army Engineers had been requested, a corps spokesman said. navigable waters are under the corps' jurisdiction.

Hempstead Town ordered Fort Neck Dredging of Merrick to carry out the project to provide navigable access to the bulkhead line of a housing development planned for the Merrick side of the channel. A town dredging permit was issued Dec. 5.

The land resources council, in its letters, called on each of the four levels of government to "investigate the circumstances under which the illegal dredging was done and to ask something meaningful in the way of reparation and punitive measures."

So far the corps has not indicated what it will do about the dredging.

A spokesman, who noted the dredging has almost been completed, said the town "will be advised of what action should be taken in the future."

According to Rod Vandivert, chairman of the land resources council, “The town... must be terribly bored at he usual corps reprimand and the corps must be terribly frustrated . . ."

Vandivert said his group wants the four levels of government to investigate: The status of the areas dredged.

The plan for removal of navigational hazards agreed on by the town and Fort Neck Dredging.

Who has jurisdiction over the areas dredged.

The amount of fill removed.

[From the Long Island Press, Jan. 25, 1967]

"PROTECTOR" PROBES DREDGING PROJECT
(By Marsha Kranes)

Nassau County's "public protector" has launched an investigation of an "illegal" dredging project and housing development in South Merrick.

Retired District Court Judge Samuel Greson, Nassau's ombudsman, told The Press yesterday that he is conducting the investigation at the request of a South Bellmore housewife who lives along Cedar Swamp Channel and across from the proposed South Merrick housing development.

The dredging going on in and around the channel has been ruled illegal by the Army Corps of Engineers.

Judge Greason said he would investigate "all aspects of the case" including: Why Fort Neck Dredging Co. of Merrick failed to request Army Engineer permission to carry out the Hempstead Town-ordered dredging project.

Why the Nassau Planning Commission first turned down plans for the housing development, went to court to defend its position, and then, after winning a favorable decision from the Appellate Division, changed its mind and approved the project.

Judge Greason said "I'm calling in a lot of people. We'll check this out thoroughly."

Mrs. Frederick Hacker, the South Bellmore housewife who asked Judge Greason to look into the dredging project, brought the situation to The Press' attention last week. She thought a dredge operating in the channel was there without a town permit.

The Press checked and learned that on Dec. 5, Hempstead Town issued Lawrence Country Estates a permit to dredge to provide navigible access to the bulkhead line of a housing development planned for the Merrick shore of the channel.

Further checking revealed that the Army Corps of Engineers had not been asked to approve the project, even though, the Corps claims, the project was being carried on in navigable waters. All navigable waters are under the Corps' jurisdiction.

In addition, The Press discovered that the housing development that was going to benefit from the dredging had previously been rejected by the Nassau Planning Commission because it "would aggravate present pollution" in the channel. But, after going to court to support its position-and winning-the commission approved the development plans "with some minor changes."

Foremost among these changes was an agreement to delay construction of seven homes until sanitary sewers are installed in the area.

When local howeowners learned this they became incensed, claiming that seven fewer homes would not eliminate the pollution problem. They have called on