By KIMBERLY ACEVEDO
The purpose of the NRDC report is to help municipalities in the Habor Bight region, which includes the Atlantic coastline from Montauk to Cape May, N.J., understand that the environment is everyone's responsibility, said Carolyn Summers, the principal author of the report. It was not made for a comparative purpose, she added.
Long Beach was one of two municipalities to respond to the survey in Nassau County. Small hamlets like Lido Beach and Point Lookout were not surveyed, Summers said. The Town of Hempstead and Atlantic Beach did not respond to the survey.
Some residents are saying that Long Beach's "fair" grade could've been better. During a Dec. 3 city council meeting, environmental activist Sarah Nicholas said there were several inconsistencies in the report and that some questions didn't have a city response. According to the report, the city has a volunteer environmental advisory board or commission, Nicholas said, adding that she wasn't aware of any advisory board and asking whether one existed.
"We do not have one, nor do we expect, at this point, to form one," city spokesperson Matt Dwyer said, because residents bring their environmental observations, questions, comments and suggestions to the city manager's office.
Former City Manager Bruce Nyman, who left Long Beach last year, said he suggested an environmental advisory board, but it was never formed.
Some questions posed during preparation of the report went unanswered. The city, according to the report, was unable to provide the number of new development applications that were submitted and approved between January 1998 and 2000.
In 1998 the city issued 12 permits for two-family housing, 12 permits for one-family housing and a permit for 12 apartment units, Building Commissioner Scott Kemins said. Two applications for one-family housing were denied, he said.
In 1999 the city issued seven permits for two-family housing and seven permits for one-family housing. Two permits for one-family housing and one for a 10-story, multiple dwelling was denied, Kemins said.
In 2000 the city approved four permits for two-family housing, 15 for one-family housing and one for a commercial building, he said. Six permit requests for new construction were denied.
During the meeting, Mona Goodman said the report confirmed what she feared the most: The Harbor Bight region is becoming overdeveloped.
In the past, the city has issued two building moratoriums, Dwyer said. One prevented the building of two-family houses and the other prevented building in the Residential Business A district, which includes the superblock site.
Long Beach City Manager Harold Porr III said the city is constantly improving its environmental efforts and outlook, and "[is] very committed to an environmental policy that looks toward a clean environment, public access and highest quality of waste-water treatment."
One area of concern in the report was the "dirty dozen" pollution violators, which included the Long Beach sewage- treatment plant, but the report adds that the city is working to improve sewer system beneath the roads.
Focused on the deteriorating sewer conditions, the city has reconstructed an average of two roads per year in the last eight years, city spokesperson Matt Dwyer said. The city has also made emergency sewer repairs three or four times each year, he said. The sewage-treatment plant's capacity is 7.5 million gallons per day.
The survey, which took three years to complete, was sent to 169 municipalities in New York and New Jersey, of which 66 responded. The survey graded the respondents on a point scale, awarding points for positive environmental impacts and subtracting them for negative impacts.
City of Long Beach
Rating: Fair
Total Score: 26
Breakdown: Water Quality 7
Land Use 6
Open Space 3
Quality of Response 7
Return Rate 3
Grading scale:
Outstanding: 50+
Good: 35-50
Fair: 20-34
Needs improvement: 0-19
* Points are awarded for positive environmental impacts and subtracted for negative impacts.
