The soil is clean: Results from DEC-mandated test in Cow Harbor Park shared by mayor

The results from a boring test at Cow Harbor Park in Northport Village are in, Mayor Donna Koch shared at the December 19 board of trustees meeting, “and the soil is clean,” the mayor said, eliciting applause from the audience. 

Concerns about the soil were first voiced in October, after Trustee Ernie Pucilllo received the results of a November 2022 boring test from a Northport Village resident who used the Freedom of Information Law to obtain them; results of the test indicated an odor of petrochemicals near the park’s existing basketball court. Pucillo immediately contacted the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) with the information.

Pucillo did not reach out to his fellow Northport Village board members prior to contacting the state agencies because he “viewed this failure to report this possible contamination of a park area an emergency which needed immediate investigation,” he told the Journal. Northport Village Mayor Donna Koch and Assistant to the Mayor Don Tesoriero had been aware of the 2022 boring report results and were told at the time that no further action was needed.

On November 6, the DEC requested that the Town of Huntington (TOH) and Village of Northport submit a limited site investigation plan to assess soil and groundwater conditions at the site where the odor was identified. On November 29, the DEC oversaw the collection of soil and groundwater samples at Cow Harbor Park by both Village and TOH consultants.

“DEC was on site to observe the soil boring conducted in the same location as a previous soil boring that indicated the presence of a petrochemical odor at the soil/groundwater interface,” DEC officials told the Journal yesterday. “The results were received on December 18. There was no indication of a release of petroleum. DEC will not require any additional investigation and considers this matter resolved.”

A portion of a letter from LiRo Engineers, Inc. summarizing the DEC-mandated soil report was read by Mayor Koch at yesterday’s meeting. “No visual or olfactory evidence of contamination was observed in the soil boring, and no anthropogenic or urban fill materials were encountered,” the mayor stated. 

The test included the installation of one soil boring to a depth of 20 feet below land surface. “LiRo performed continuous soil screening during the soil boring advancement with a photoionization detector for organic vapors,” the letter states, and “all readings were recorded at 0.0 parts per million.” Soil and groundwater samples were also collected and submitted to Alpha Analytical, a New York State Department of Health ELAP-certified laboratory. The analytical data from the soil and groundwater samples collected in Cow Harbor Park “provided no evidence or indication of a petroleum release,” the letter concluded, and “LiRo recommends no further investigation or remediation necessary based on the findings on this soil boring investigation.” 

The refurbishment and expansion of the basketball court has faced criticism from opponents to the plan, many of whom voiced their objections at a public meeting held in July of 2022 to discuss the court and its revitalization, a project spearheaded by the Northport High School 1995 Long Island Champion Boys Basketball team.

The Village board voted unanimously that evening to hire the Village engineering firm to produce another set of plans for the site, a compromise that resulted in a court smaller than the one first proposed to then-Village leadership in July of 2021. As per the compromise, the full paved area of the basketball court will be 66x50 feet; it is currently 53x40 feet. 

In January 2023, the board authorized Mayor Koch to issue bids for the public work necessary to complete the revitalization project. The project plans that went out to bid include the 3,300-square-foot basketball court, a 550-square-foot rain garden, a black vinyl-coated chain link fence to run along the back and street-side of the court, and a hardscape walkway to run along the harbor-side of the court.

Debate surrounding the project has oftentimes been contentious, with community members pitted against one another both in favor and opposed to the plan as it stands. Objections to the project have ranged from the loss of green space to an increase in traffic due to the court, an increase in noise and, most recently, the danger posed by the disruption of possibly contaminated soil. At yesterday’s Village board meeting, supporters of the project came out in large numbers to thank the community members – including Village trustees and the mayor – who have persisted in getting the project completed.

Just last month, the Northport Native Garden Initiative (NNGI) donated two red maples (Acer rubrum) to the Village, which were then planted in Cow Harbor Park. The gesture came after community members voiced concerns about the removal of trees for the basketball court and nearby bathroom renovation, a separate project funded by the donation of a private citizen. NNGI expects to donate two more native trees to Cow Harbor Park in the near future. 

The plan now is to execute the project in two phases in order to move forward, using donated funds (over $90,000 has been raised via a GoFundMe initiated by the 1995 basketball team) and a $75,000 state grant. The cost of phase one – estimated by LandTek, a Bay Shore-based construction and design firm already in contract with the TOH, to be approximately $139,000 – will be covered by those funds, said Northport Village Trustee and Commissioner of Parks Meghan Dolan, and will include completing the entirety of the basketball court, new basketball hoops, and new fencing to replace what’s currently there. Permeable plastic pavers around the perimeter of the court (essentially grass built on drainage rings) are also being considered for phase one. 

The Northport Village Highway Department will be handling some of the demolition and site preparation work itself, confirmed Dolan. 

Dolan is continuing her work with the Town of Huntington’s Environmental Open Space & Park Fund (EOSPA) in hopes of funding the second phase of the plan, which includes a rain garden and masonry in the area around the court. 

The plans for both phases are the same as what was sent to bid in January, Dolan said, with minor changes to the court’s elevation and the shape of the fence. There will also be less pavers in phase two than what was originally planned. 

Claire Moore, a lifelong Northport Village resident, said at last night’s Village board meeting that the purpose of this project boils down to “former local basketball stars who grew up here, and still either live here or have family here, [who] want Northport to be for the children of tomorrow what it was for them – a wholesome and supportive community, with a vibrant youth culture that’s largely about the positive value of sports, such as teamwork, commitment and fairness.” 

“For so many of us here in Northport, modernizing the decrepit basketball court and expanding it slightly is such a no-brainer, I almost can’t believe we’re still talking about it,” Moore continued. “I’m just one of hundreds of people who have loved this project and donated to it since the beginning…I’m here tonight to say thank you to the Village board, thank you for your commitment to seeing this project through despite these occasional setbacks, thank you for working through the bureaucracy with New York State government to secure that money for the families of Northport. Thanks for exploring the additional funding from the Town of Huntington in spite of the naysayers who apparently want Northport Village to be only for them. Thank you for not losing sight of the big picture, that this project will revitalize the whole park and make it a beautiful and beloved destination for future generations of Northport kids.”

Dolan anticipates that a board vote to enter into contract with LandTek will occur in January, with phase one beginning as soon as possible. Phase two would, if all works out, occur alongside the separate bathroom renovation project, the trustee added. “Ideally before next summer, you have everything done over there,” she said. 

More about the history of this project, from its inception as a grassroots effort to refurbish the existing court through to today’s plans, can be found on the Northport Journal website via a search for “basketball court.”