By:JOSEPH KELLARD
After several years of filed complaints and unfulfilled expectations, residents of Westminster Road in Oceanside finally see the light at the end of the tunnel -- or, more literally, at the end of the canal.
Bulkhead reconstruction at the end of the Goulet Grand Canal, which parallels Westminster, began three weeks ago, the culmination of efforts by residents who, for a decade, called, wrote and faxed any government officials at the local, state or federal levels who might possibly help them.
Tidal action had completely eroded the bulkhead in this area, known as the Tut Basin, which made bank-stabilization virtually nonexistent and sank the 200-foot-long road that ran adjacent to it into the canal. Surrounding properties deteriorated, private bulkheads eroded, sinkholes formed, weeds grew, and illegal dumping contributed to rat infestation, residents complained.
After the Town of Hempstead and Nassau County argued for years over who was responsible for the Tut Basin property, Councilman Anthony Santino learned of the problem and initiated a legal search to determine which government entity was responsible for repairing the road. The town's Attorney's Office and its Division of Real Estate found that the area adjacent to the bulkhead is owned by Nassau County, and that Tut Basin was an abandoned private road that was never designated part of the Town of Hempstead's highway system.
The county agreed to rebuild the bulkhead, and the town plans to clean up and beautify the area where the Tut Basin road once ran, Santino said.
"I'm more than pleased that the town and county finally came through for us," said Dorothy Donno, who lives adjacent to the basin. Donno and other residents, however, are still skeptical about whether the project will go as they claim it was planned.
"It's been a very long battle, but as far as I'm concerned it's still not over yet," said Dorren Velkas, a 26-year resident of Westminister Road. She said that when the new bulkhead walls were first erected, the company performing the work failed to remove the remains of the old, eroded bulkhead.
"Pieces of the dead bulkhead are just standing up out of the water when it's low tide, about 10 feet before where the new bulkhead is," Velkas said. "When it's high tide, you can't see it, and if a boat came in and made a turn, it could be impaled on one of those old pieces of wood."
Velkas reported this finding to the town as a navigational hazard.
"I looked into this for them, we applied for a Department of Environmental Conservation permit, which we are required to do, and whatever the DEC allows us to do, we are doing," said Nassau County Legislator Jeff Toback.
Bill Fonda, a spokesperson for the DEC, said the initial plans from the Nassau County Department of Public Works were designed to put the new bulkhead in the freshwater wetlands zone, which the DEC prohibits. "Because of the deteriorate bulkhead, the main hard water line moved further on the shore, essentially creating more freshwater wetlands," he explained. "The plan that we ultimately approved pushed the bulkhead approximately 20 feet father backwards than Nassau County's original plan."
Asked why the old bulkhead wasn't removed, Fonda said, "I would image that they did remove the old bulkhead, because it was badly broken down. We just didn't let them put it in the spot that they had initially proposed."
Further, Donno and Velkas claim the county planned to dredge the debris that accumulated in the basin as a result of the eroded bulkhead, but that it is not included in the overall redevelopment of Tut Basin.
"I don't know if there was supposed to be dredging," Toback said. "I believe that we proposed to the DEC that we be allowed to do the dredging, and they turned down our application to do the dredging."
"We have no records of dredging ever being proposed in this plan." Fonda said.
