By DEBBIE ROSEN
Residents of Island Park's Harbor Isle have gathered more than 100 signatures requesting help from local politicians to find out just who owns an 11-acre plot of land in their back yards. The former site of Cibro Oil, which is considered contaminated by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, has sat dormant for several years.
The residents are responding to rumors that the land has been sold to a developer planning a townhouse complex.
"I saw surveyors there," said Judy Schnall, a 24-year resident of Harbor Isle, living just houses away from the property. "I heard at Bingo that the land was sold, but I thought when they tore down the oil tanks, they couldn't put anything up because the ground was saturated with oil," she said.
The quiet grasslands are located just across from Madison Avenue in Harbor Isle. A torn "for sale" sign hangs on the fence bordering the site and residents have seen people come and go around the fenced area.
While the property is in bankruptcy and no one has come forward to claim ownership, sources have named JD Posillico Inc. as a potential buyer. Michael Posillico's statements last week certainly shows that he is considering it.
"I don't have any official information for you other than the site is in contract negotiations and once we have some sort of agreement, which we don't have now, I will contact you with accurate information," Michael Posillico said in a voice mail message left at the Herald.
Town of Hempstead spokesperson, Mike McConnell said on Monday, September 11, that the town has not received any application in the building department for construction at the site. In response to neighbors concern about the contamination, Mr. McConnell said once a building plan is filed, a State Environmental Quality Review (SEQR) is conducted. Depending on the findings of the SEQR, an environmental impact statement would ensue, involving many governmental agencies.
Nick Acampora, an environmental specialist with the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), confirmed this week that the land formerly home to Cibro Oil Company is contaminated and there is a potential buyer for the land. "There's definitely contamination on the site that has to be addressed," he said. "We'll be overseeing the cleanup when it's started. We've known about the contamination for some time, but the prior owner went bankrupt and nothing was done. [The contamination] basically sat there until someone bought the property. Someone was supposed to buy it, but I do not know who that source is," he said. "A consultant was hired by a potential property owner to look at the data to do some kind of cleanup and it was done under a FOIL [Freedom of Information Law]."
While the state DEC confirmed the land was contaminated by a 1988 fuel oil spill that occurred when Cibro Oil tanks were removed, monitoring wells are in place there, keeping check on the contamination. Mr. Acampora said the contamination is only on the property formerly owned by Cibro Oil and has not spread to anywhere else within the Harbor Isle community. "Work at the site has to be, but we need to wait until there is a new property owner," Mr. Acampora added.
Even though no new owner of the former bankrupt property can be confirmed at this time, Harbor Isle residents are gearing up for a community thrust to have their voices heard loud and clear. The community organization is headed up by 24-year resident Jack Izower who voiced his concerns and the concerns named in the petition to be sent to local politicians.
Mr. Izower said that between 30 and 40 community members have already joined to form a community committee. With 100 petitions signed, he said many will begin going door-to-door asking neighbors to sign petitions, and join the cause.
"I am also concerned that if the area is disturbed, will gases and liquids escape into the bay, the Island Park Canal, the Island Creek Canal, the Basin, the Wreck Lead Channel and the Simmons Hossock Creek?," he questioned.
An excerpt from the petition states, that development of the property would damage the community because "the area has been polluted by hazardous chemicals leaching into the ground over a period of many years and since the removal of the oil tanks, the ground surface has not been disturbed, and new seepage channels have not been developed, and new concentrated traffic will create great hazards."
