City Council approves of Stormwater Management Program on Garvies Point Road

This is part two of two parts.

The Glen Cove City approved of the Stormwater Management Program at the March 24 City Council meeting. The city implemented the program, in compliance with the state Department of Environmental Conservation, to prevent illicit discharge from getting into water bodies like Hempstead Harbor. This is done through practices like covering storm water drains. 

Yet, this proved to be a safety issue prior to the paving of the road and installment of final drainage connections, Louis Saulino, the director of Public Works, said. During events that were considered emergencies, the city did relax the requirements and the Police Department was able to assist employees in safely leaving their place of business on Garvies Point Road. 

“It’s kind of a lesser of two evils situation,” said Gregory Kalnitsky, the city attorney at the March 24 council meeting. “We’re in a predicament where if we comply with the DEC we cause flooding. If we don’t comply with the DEC, we don’t cause flooding. It’s a delicate balance.” 

Kalnitsky said that in the past, when there were extreme rain events, the city would open up the drains and allow that water to go through. “Then the DEC isn’t very happy with us,” he said. 

“During the construction of the road is when the silt and everything was sticking to the machinery and was getting onto the roadway and then when we had a rain event, it was being washed into the storm drains,” said Tenke, at the pre-council meeting. “Once the roadway is completed and construction is done, the storm drain will operate as intended.”

The contract was approved at the March 24 council meeting. D&B Engineers and Architects will then help assist the city in preparing the 2020 Stormwater Management Plan Annual Report to submit to the DEC, according to City Council documents. 

In a letter for Saulino from D&B Engineers and Architects, the costs were listed — $3,600 for the 2020 SWMP Annual Report; $3,700 for facility, construction site and stormwater management practice inventories; $3,000 for updated SWMP documents; and $1,500 in municipal SWMP training. 

The city has also worked to provide education materials for residents. A brochure from the city advised residents to reduce stormwater pollution through practices such as not overwatering the  lawn, limiting fertilizers and pesticides, fixing leaks in cars, taking cars to commercial car washes, scooping dog waste, following directions for household cleaning products that have chemicals and not dumping anything one would not drink in a storm drain. 

RXR Development Services LLC., the real estate agency behind the Garvies Point development, has furthered preventing stormwater pollution by funding street sweepers to clean the road to prevent any further environmental consequences.

As far as coronavirus related regulations are concerned, Saulino said that as of now roadway projects remain essential work and that the city will, however, respect contractor safety concerns.