By Marley Seaman
Baldwin residents living along the Grand and West End canals are facing the approval or disapproval of the formation of a special-benefit district to oversee local waterways. They will also vote on whether to conduct a special engineer's report that would map the canals, test the strength of bulkheads, determine what materials need to be removed from the area and estimate the cost of dredging.
The measure will be approved or denied by a proportional vote, meaning that people with more property along the canals have a larger say. A resident with 120 feet of property along the canal will have 120 votes, while one with 40 feet will have 40 votes. In total, there are approximately 6,300 feet of property along West End Canal, and 4,800 feet along Grand Canal.
If two-thirds of voters living on each canal approve the measure, two special districts will be formed. Residents of each district will take over responsibility for upkeep of their canal from the town, and the survey will go forward. If only one canal is approved, the district will include only that canal, and only that canal will be surveyed.
One man, one vote
The process has been put on hold as opponents of the district say their civil liberties are being violated. "I'm very unhappy," said resident Joe Kasulka. "I vote for the president of the United States, and I get one vote, period. My vote isn't worth less because some guy in Texas owns 50,000 acres."
Don Schaffer, legal director of the New York American Civil Liberties Union's Nassau chapter, said the organization is investigating the issue and will come to a conclusion in early September. In 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that in some cases, benefit districts are allowed to have proportional votes.
"In special-benefit districts such as the canal districts, there are sometimes weighted votes," Schaffer said. "Our analysis is to determine whether or not that is appropriate in this case, and whether the system that has been planned meets the requirement that the Supreme Court has set."
Supporters of the measure insist that the proportional method is fair, since people who own more property along the canals will pay higher taxes. "We have high taxes anyway," said Sandy Camenzuli, who spearheaded the effort to create the districts. "We want water in the canal. That's why we moved here."
Controversial issues
For several years, a bill that would have created benefit districts was introduced annually in the New York State Legislature. It passed the Senate, but never came to a vote in the Assembly. On April 19, the Town of Hempstead passed the law itself, saying it had discovered precedent in a case from the 1950s involving a creek in East Rockaway. Kasulka calls the move "an end run" around the Legislature.
The new vote could usher in changes to the area that would be paid for by residents in additional taxes. Some are balking at the cost. If both canals are surveyed, it could cost up to $168,000, to be paid off over a two-year period. The price for dredging the area could be as high as $3 million, to be paid for over 20 to 30 years.
"They [the Town of Hempstead] want us to pick up the tab for $3 million," said Kasulka. "I think the Town of Hempstead has a heck of a way of doing things."
Kasulka and a group of other residents say that they are concerned that the soil around the canal is contaminated by waste from Hempstead sewers, and that district homeowners will be forced to pay for the problem to be fixed.
The vote
The Town of Hempstead attorney's office prefers the term "consent forms" to "ballots." The difference is that ballots contain a space for yes or no votes, while the form to be used will not, according to Tom McKevitt, a town attorney.
The consent form is drafted to say, "I hereby consent to the formation of this benefit area and for this engineering survey to be done," McKevitt explained. The project will only go forward if the town receives a two-thirds majority of yes votes. Unreturned forms will not be counted as yes votes, said McKevitt.
Information regarding each resident's number of votes and cost estimates for surveys will be included when ballots are finally mailed to the public. McKevitt said the town plans to give the people of Baldwin Harbor at least three to four weeks to consider their choice.
It is unknown whether the attorney's office will wait to hear the NYCLU's determination on the issue before sending out the consent forms.
Jimmy Vilardi, of Parkway Drive Development Corporation, controls 13 lots in the southern part of the canal district, and estimates that he has 1,200 votes between the two canals. He plans to vote in favor of conducting the survey and creating the district. "I think we have to go forward and at least explore it," Vilardi said.
Comments about this story? MSeaman@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 282.
