Hewlett Harbor's $3 million storm recovery project 99% complete

Nearly eight years after Hurricane Sandy washed through the Five Towns, more than $3 million from the Governor’s Office of Storm Recovery and a $450,000 grant from the federal Environmental Protection Agency were poured into repairing Hewlett Harbor’s stormwater infrastructure to stem flooding.

The village began looking into flood mitigation five years before Sandy, as then Trustee Len Oppenheimer began his tenure. He found that past news reporting traced flooding back to the 1940s, a time when infrastructure differed from contemporary specification and drainpipes were then built at eight to 12 inches in diameter.

Flooding increased because of residential development — larger houses, bigger driveways, pools, patios and decks. There are fewer natural grounds to soak up rainwater, so more stormwater collects in the streets and into storm drains that cannot handle the increased volume of water.

Problems multiplied during the subsequent investigation: “Each step went from cleaning the drains, to realizing they were broken in spots, to realizing they were too small in other spots,” Oppenheimer said.

For more than six years, Hewlett Harbor’s board of trustees worked with Nassau County, the Town of Hempstead, and several private engineering firms, to tailor a cost-effective plan designed to reduce flooding and storm related damage in their community, which is bordered by tidal water and prone to flooding during storms, high tide, and costal surges.

The proposed work and its associated costs would have placed too much of a burden on the village taxpayer, Oppenheimer said, so he began applying for grant. In 2012, Hewlett Harbor received $450,000 from the EPA. Plans were made to fix flooding in some areas, then Sandy hit later that year. Then the project grew in scope. Hewlett Harbor worked with village residents to submit a program for funding consideration in both instances, proposing an extensive repair plan to the state.

GOSR introduced the NY Rising Program, making federal and state funding available to municipalities such as Hewlett Harbor to repair outdated infrastructure. In 2015, the village was awarded a $3,011,690 grant by GOSR and already had what Oppenheimer called a “shovel-ready” plan.

After several years, plans were finally approved and construction started in 2020. The undersized stormwater pipes were replaced with new pipes, ranging from 36 to 48 inches wide. New flow control valves, discharge pipes, and other infrastructure was also replaced on Auerbach Avenue, Albon and Pepperidge roads, Azure and Everit places, Heather Lane, along with other streets.

“I think it is working just as it has been designed,” Village Clerk Michael Ryder said, “with smaller rains I see no pooling of water. The heavy rains that we last had caused flooding in the streets but as soon as the tide went out, the water disappeared.”

Utilities, including electric, gas and water lines were upgraded when the roads were dug up, which saved much time and money. Ryder estimated the village could be under the $3,011,690 budget by nearly $125,000. “We made the best use of the dollars,” Oppenheimer said. “Hewlett Harbor residents have been completely upgraded to the latest, greatest infrastructure at no additional cost to them because we were able, as a board and as a local government, to align all of these projects together.”

In a letter of appreciation village resident Tara Grunstein, also speaking for her husband, Steven, stated: “To say we are happy would be an understatement,” she wrote.

The GOSR project deadline is February, 2022 and its 99 percent complete, officials said. Oppenheimer assured the project’s completion with Stevie Wonder lyrics. “This is done,” Oppenheimer said, “it is signed, sealed, and delivered.”