Environmental and economic concerns have prompted residents of Manhasset to petition for sewering in the Plandome Road area after years of discussion.
The Change.org petition was launched by Plandome Heights Civic Association President Rosemary Mascali and is addressed to Town of North Hempstead Supervisor Judi Bosworth, Councilwoman Marianne Dalimonte (D-Port Washington), Councilwoman Veronica Lurvey (D-Great Neck), Assemblywoman Gina Sillitti (D-Manorhaven) and state Sen. Anna Kaplan (D-Great Neck).
“There is a growing concern that continued use of cesspools in our Plandome Road business district is both expensive and bad for our environment, especially the impact of cesspools on the water quality of Manhasset Bay,” Mascali wrote in text accompanying the petition, which was launched last week.
In an informational Zoom webinar hosted by the civic association last Wednesday, Robert Donno, co-president of the Manhasset Chamber of Commerce, said that the community had been considering sewers on Plandome Road and across most of Manhasset “going back 30 or 40 years,” and added that environmental concerns about Manhasset Bay were a major factor in the project.
“This is first and foremost an environmental project,” Donno said. “Nitrates are built up in Manhasset Bay, and then Manhasset Bay has lost its beauty and it’s basically polluted … My family’s been residents since the 1900s. My parents were born and raised in Manhasset. When they were kids, they used to actually swim in Manhasset Bay. Anybody who has ever been down to the bay now knows that that’s not going to happen today. It’s a shame, we’ve wasted an asset.”
Donno added that another reason for the project would be economic growth, including bringing in businesses that would otherwise have difficulty in cesspool areas and cutting down on expenses for existing businesses.
“Bringing businesses is one example,” Donno said. “Another example is Louie’s Restaurant,” where it costs $700 to $1,000 to pump the cesspool every seven to 10 days. “That’s ridiculous, and it’s very difficult for businesses to survive on Plandome Road, never mind bringing them in,” he said. “We need to take care of the businesses so they’re all the problems that they have. We want to create a diversity in the business district, and basically we’re providing through this a better quality of life.”
Regarding costs, Donno said that the Great Neck Water Pollution Control District, which supports the project and covers the area, estimated that a gravity fed system would be $16,822,000, while a low pressure sewer system would be $12.4 million.
The gravity fed system would involve pipes beneath the roadway and could run between 15 to 30 feet deep depending on area topography, according to the district’s Chris Murphy.
“A low pressure system has a much smaller pipe, and because it is pumped. It’s actually able to be installed just below the frost line, so roughly about five feet, because it can be installed that shallow, and you can follow the topography,” Murphy said.
Over 160 signatures have been collected for the petition so far, with one being from Richard Bentley, president of the Council of Greater Manhasset Civic Associations, who voiced support for the project at the webinar and advocating acting on the matter as soon as possible to secure grants that may not exist in the future.
“We know that we have grant money available,” Bentley said. “There’s a huge governmental effort not only by New York State, but the federal government as well, in building infrastructure and putting money into infrastructure. Ten years from now, nobody’s able to guarantee that those kinds of funds are going to be available and at that time, the entire cost is going to be on the community that the sewers serve.”
