The Greenport village board listened to the public and voted last night to nix a plan for a large drainage ditch at the Fifth Street Park.
After a public outcry, the board voted unanimously on a resolution amending the bio-retention agreement between the Village of Greenport and the New York State Environmental Facilities Corporation, to reflect a withdrawal of the Fifth Street portion of the project, and to specify that only the Manor Place portion of the project will be undertaken and completed.
Before the vote, resident John Winkler, who led the charge against the project, thanked the board for their decision.
Last week, a crowd that turned out at the village board’s monthly work session to protest the proposed large drainage swale at the Fifth Street park left happy when Greenport Village Mayor George Hubbard suggested ditching the plan.
At the work session, Greenport Village Administrator Paul Pallas said the Fifth Street retention project was originally conceived with the intent of securing a grant to clean water runoff from the roadways before it enters the waterways.
The design went forward, including a large ditch or swale, that would have run along Johnson Place, turning a corner and onto 5th Street. The swale, Pallas said, would have been between 10 and 11 feet wide and run through a large section of the park.
After the original design, there was public discussion and Pallas asked if the proposal could be modified to include 6th Street because of flooding, he said.
After speaking with the engineers, New York State Environmental Facilities Corporation, which was awarding the $287,000 grant, to improve drainage both at 5th Street and at Manor Place, design changes were sent for review.
Pallas said the EFC said they would not approve the 6th Street piece because the depth to groundwater did not meet the minimum distance. And since they had already improved the original design, they wanted to approve the first design presented.
Trustee Doug Roberts asked if there was anything that could be done to include 6th Street, and if the village could be granted additional time; Pallas said the depth to groundwater issue made that impossible.
Hubbard asked how much had been spent so far by the village. “If we scrap the whole thing, will we have to pay the engineer’s portion?” he asked.
Pallas said the village would have to pay that amount.
“I don’t think this project has the support from the board or the community,” Hubbard said, to thunderous applause from those in the room.
The work session last week came after a group of concerned residents met at the park to protest the plan, saying the felt too much of their park could be lost.
Hubbard said if the village had to pay $30,000 to $40,000 in engineer costs, “We’ll bite the bullet.”
Trustee Julia Robins added that she and Pallas took the plans and measurements to the park, where she realized that the “elevation in the park is actually its own natural swale,” with a natural depression in the landscape and water running down into the ground.
As the neighbors filed out, they called, “Thank you, George.”
“One thing: It’s not a swale. We call it a ditch!” said Richard Kossman.
After the meeting, residents expressed their feelings on the mayor’s willingness to scrap the 5th Street park component of the plan.
William Swiskey said he’d like to commend Winkler for his efforts in informing others about the plans. “Without John we might have woken up one morning to the sounds of a sump being created. I want to congratulate Mayor George Hubbard for taking the lead in killing the project. Destroying what is basically Greenport’s best park is not worth any amount in grant money,” Swiskey said.
While the first set of plans were “not that bad,” said Kirsten Klotzer Droskoski, the second set for the swale “were horrible.”
Droskoski was one of the community members who met at the park to oppose the plan. “We found out that the swale would have stretched out into quite a bit of the park, which would have not only ruined the park for children playing ball but also would have been very dangerous. With all the community paying out of pocket for the plantings and maintenance of the park it would have destroyed the beautiful park.”
She added that the land the park is sited upon was donated in the 1930s for the sole purpose of remaining a park in perpetuity, something that would be impossible with the swale. Also, she agreed the elevation in the park prevented runoff into the bay.
She added, “I had a lot of faith in George Hubbard. He is from Greenport and wants to do the right thing for the community and make everyone happy.”
