Assemblyman Tom Abinanti, D-Greenburgh on Friday called on the state Department of Environmental Conservation to take a more proactive role in cleaning up the contamination at the former Frank’s Nursery on Dobbs Ferry Road in Hartsdale.
On Wednesday, DEC spokeswoman Lisa King told Tax Watch the state was in a holding pattern on the site because the DEC believed that the contamination had not spread from the seven-acre parcel. She said it was up to the town of Greenburgh, which owns the land, to commence talks with the state when it wanted to move forward with redeveloping it.
Voters on Tuesday approved a 15-year lease with Game On 365 LLC, which plans to install an 80-foot-high sports bubble with more than 2 acres of floor area at the former nursery. The company also plans to build an artificial turf soccer field behind the bubble.
A 500-gallon oil spill, which occurred in 2001, has yet to be cleaned up.
“It’s time to wake up DEC and have the agency become more proactive,” Abinanti said. “DEC needs to prevent health hazards from lingering and force landlords to remediate. They should have done it earlier with Frank’s, and the agency should be working with the town to work out a plan.”
King did not return phone messages seeking comment.
Greenburgh Supervisor Paul Feiner, however, said it’s too soon to meet with the DEC over the contaminated site. He wants to wait for the results of the $70,000-study that the town’s consultant will embark upon soon. After that study is completed, Feiner said the town plans to present it to state regulators, to determine how best to clean it up.
“We want to make sure we are doing it right,” Feiner said. “I’m going to reach out to the DEC to make sure they have a comfort level. We will discuss the remediation that they would feel was appropriate for the site.”
Such remediation could prove costly for the seven-acre site, which the town acquired for back-taxes in 2011. The Briarcliff Manor schools want to spend $2 million to comply with a consent order for fields covering 2.6 acres that were put in over construction debris.
State Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins, D-Yonkers, said she spoke with DEC, which told her a site like Frank’s is not a priority at this time because the town has yet to move forward with its redevelopment project.
“The DEC gets 16,000 reports of contaminated sites a year, and they have to assess the public health impact,” she said. “They pay attention to sites that pose a public health or environmental hazard.”
The town’s engineering firm has discovered that there’s contamination both in the site’s soil and the groundwater beneath the surface. The site borders a wetland under the high-voltage power lines. Â Walter Hang, president of Toxics Targeting, Ithaca, NY, said that the site’s proximity to the wetlands raises concerns.
“When you have contamination adjoining a wetland, then the potential for migration to the wetland is very very high,” Hang said. “Closing and capping the site is a good thing. But you have to make sure the contamination is sequestered from further migration.”
He also urged the DEC to get cracking to get the site cleaned up.
“It makes no sense to not get moving on the remediation,” he said. “It’s beyond stupidity. It’s like you have a house on a fire, and the firemen say that there’s no worry because the fire will burn itself out. The minute you have identified contamination, there’s a requirement that it be remediated. Eleven years is too long.”
Once the town receives its report, Feiner said he plans to talk to the state about obtaining state financing to help clean it up through its Brownfield’s clean-up program.
But Hang warned that the town shouldn’t count on the fund.
“There’s not much money there,” he said. “It has been inadequately funded for years.”
Photo: Greenburgh activists Dorrine Livson and Bob Bernstein discuss contamination at the former site of Frank’s Nursery Wednesday. The town plans to lease the site for a sports complex. Ricky Flores/The Journal News
1 Comment
Let me see if I have this right.
Feiner rushed to sign a Lease with GameOn 365 before knowing the full extent of the soil contamination. Even though the only party to respond to a RFP to lease was GameOn. Even though Feiner had not marketed the property properly. Even though GameOn was working with Feiner before the RFP was announced. Even though the RFP was limited to but 60 days as though there was some need to rush. Even though Feiner manipulated the scope of the Phase ll Study so that it wouldn’t uncover the bulk of the contamination. Even though Town Attorney Tim Lewis announced that the total cost of the Study and subsequent remediation would only be around $100,000 and now we have the cost of the Phase ll Study ($43,500) indicating that more Study is necessary (costing and additional $69,000) and we are already over the $100,000 without any remediation.
Even though Feiner knew about this before the Referendum and that the Referendum which cited reasons to be cheerful but omitted the bad news was passed with less than 10% of Greenburgh voters (pro and con) participating and this a controversial Presidential election which brought out hordes of voters. Even though the Proposition won by a majority, Feiner cackles that this represents a victory for his stewardship and one worth the many millions of dollars that the mitigation will require. Just so Greenburgh can be home to another indoor sports facility in a residential zone with height restrictions set at 25’ while the bubble will rise to just under 80’.
A typical Feiner win-win from which the meager contribution to taxes over 15 years will never recover the $1.4 million already owed or contribute to keeping property taxes down. And by the way,
a 15 year lease will never be a 15 year lease because for revenue purposes, the clock starts not from the signing but from when the facility receives a Certificate of Occupancy. Which means that until that point, the Town will continue to be solely responsible for the payment of District taxes etc. The $1.4 million already owed will increase especially now that the truth is known.
Even without considering the outcome of litigation in Court, it comes down to one word: brownfields.
What this means is that Feiner and GameOn who all along have been thisclose will be holding hands for years to come. That Feiner is only now looking to brownfields programs is the key to understanding that mitigation is years away—long after GameON has flown the coop, and gone back to making cold calls. Initially I assumed that the more time that GameOn had the property tied up, the better their chances of finding investors to fund the project—GameOn’s equity in the deal being its possession of a SIGNED lease. The $125,000, still unpaid, that was to be their contribution will not be paid should they, as allowed by the Lease, choose to walk—citing delays and the cost of the mitigation (at taxpayer expense, not theirs) exceed some $400,000+.
Those who opposed the project can breathe easier knowing that the practical realities, if not the Court, will bring about the graceless exit of GameOn’s interest. Should they find deep pocketed investors, these investors will not sit around and wait out the resolution. Meanwhile, since Feiner will want to keep the project alive and his “triumph” before residents, he will also commit to incurring new taxpayer funded costs to complete required reviews such as a traffic study, zoning change, and the SEQRA review which will remain a work in progress until the mitigation is passed. After all, Feiner is never going to admit a defeat during his 2013 re-election campaign. Why should he care if the additional costs end up down the toilet for a project that won’t happen.
More and more, it looks like another Feiner fiscal farrago.
More and more, it looks like April’s electric pumping station at the Library—at no cost to taxpayers.