Although I’ve been out of office since July 2020, my interest and deep concern for the well-being of our village have never diminished.
After seeing the chaotic change in our village government, I am sorry that I left my position on our Manorhaven Board of Trustees back then for winters in Florida. After returning to Manorhaven in April 2023, I was appalled at the happenings at the May Board of Trustees meeting with all the dissension among the members of our local government.
I explained this in my Port Washington Times article, “Manorhaven, Who’s on 1st, What’s on 2nd…” in their June/July issue.
The actions at this meeting seemed closer to a scene from the movie, “Animal House” with John Belushi back in the late ’70s. The B.O.T. meetings after May continued to be interrupted by comments from people in attendance without being recognized by the mayor to properly address the Board in the manner followed by our residents for years.
The topic of construction in our small village has led to much of the controversy at these meetings. The two biggest contentious building projects during my tenure as Trustee, 22 Sagamore Hill Drive on Manhasset Isle (7-variances) and 59 Orchard Beach Blvd. are and should be continually monitored by all of our elected village officials and superintendent of buildings.
The presence of unacceptable levels of tetrachloroethene, a volatile organic compound, in 4 of 5 groundwater test wells at 22 Sagamore Hill Drive should be monitored by the village as well as the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation in years to come with new residents moving into these apartments in the near future.
The owner of 5 Sagamore Hill Drive spent almost 14 years doing the right thing to clear up the chemical hazards on his property for possible future development with the state Department of Environmental Conversation and Nassau County Board of Health continually monitoring (Brownfield Cleanup Program).
The continuing saga of the on/off construction at 59 Orchard Beach Blvd. still leaves a lot of questions in the minds of residents in that waterfront community. During my tenure as trustee 2016-2020, I along with then Trustee Popeleski and our entire board voted in favor of the Stop Work Order issued by our superintendent of buildings because of questionable differences between the original and final building plans.
It appeared that these issues would eventually be decided in a court of law. When I returned home in April 2023, I was told by a neighbor that 59 Orchard Beach Blvd. was once again under construction.
Assuming that this issue had been resolved, I asked Mayor Popeleski at our Board of Trustees meeting when he and the trustees had voted to once again allow construction and neither he nor the trustees were able to give me an answer which I imagine would be in the minutes from the meeting.
In July 2023, a new face with an inquiring mind, Jeff Stone, was appointed as the new Trustee after beating both of his incumbent opponents by over 100 votes.
Now enter the “Lone Ranger”! Being a brand new village trustee as well as a governmental official in the State of New York, Jeff began asking questions which began to create tension among the four other members on the board. (Port Washington Times, October 6, 2023)
When I met Jeff at the May 2023 Board of Trustees meeting, he told me he was running for trustee on a pledge to end chaos in our village government as well as pushing for open government and transparency in our village. T
his immediately brought me back to my running for trustee in 2016 with the hope of improving the living conditions in our wonderful Village (Port Washington News, “Ken Cares in Retrospect”, January 28, 2020)
I recently learned that the existing buildings at Haven Marina, 20 Matinecock Ave., had been demolished with plans for a new apartment complex by supposedly the same builder(s) from 22 Sagamore Hill Drive and 59 Orchard Beach Blvd.
It is quite ironic that during the moratorium on building along the waterfront in the C-1 District, that then Trustee Popeleski and I and our entire Board of Trustees assured the residents of Manhasset Isle that there would not be any construction along Matinecock Avenue.
My letter to the Editor of Port Washington News, October 23, 2023, explained the purpose of the “Building Overlay District”, B.O.L.D. for Mixed Use/Live Work Apartments, Chapter 155.20.1 of the Manorhaven Village Code.
If the proposed builder at 20 Matinecock Ave. is planning to build under “B.O.L.D.”, then they should surely conduct proper soil and groundwater testing along this waterfront property that was a working marina for over 50 years with various toxic chemicals being stored and used there during that time.
Chpt. 155-20.1C(3) explicitly states “All existing industrial uses, auto body shops, auto repair shops, hardware stores, dry cleaners/laundromats and any uses where toxic chemicals are stored shall not be permitted as part of BOLD.”
Accordingly, under the B.O.L.D section, all proposed new projects using B.O.L.D. shall be subject to site plan review procedures before the Board of Trustees.
I would hope and expect that our Village officials will closely monitor this project while also relying on the expertise of the state Department of Environmental Conversation and Nassau County Department of Health for guidance pertaining to possible chemical hazards just as they had successfully conducted for 14 years at 5 Sagamore Hill Drive.
I truly hope that Trustee Jeff Stone continues to ask questions and make inquiries into the daily operation of our Village as the future of our wonderful waterfront village deserves nothing less.
The residents on Manhasset Isle and Orchard Beach Boulevard need to take a serious look at the residents running for office in June 2024 and bring back a working, viable village government similar to the Board of Trustees that I was so proud to be a major part of.
Show that you care!
Ken Kraft, Former Trustee 2016-2020
Manorhaven
Mr. Kraft.
I am not familiar with the overall issue but having worked for the USEPA I offer a few questions and thoughts for consideration based on reading your letters to the editor.
Your 2023 letter printed in this paper has the following statement: “In January 2019 this project received an Executive Summary from H2M Architects & Engineers confirming this work and recommending that soil-vapor mitigation engineering controls, including a sub-slab depressurization system and soil vapor barrier, be incorporated into any building design at this site.”
What is the status of the recommended vapor mitigation engineering control(s)?
Have any been installed?
What type of vapor mitigation system is installed, passive or active?
A “passive” vapor mitigation system tends to simply mean that sub-slab soil vapors are just vented to the atmosphere, without any collection or filtration by say the use of activated carbon canisters as a final polishing step.
An “active” vapor mitigation system can go either way when it comes to capturing vapors before venting. Either by venting vapors to the atmosphere, or can include capture and filtration of the vapors, such as by the use of activated carbon canisters that would need to be changed out and replaced according to a schedule based on VOC concentrations and load.
The simple venting of vapors is merely transferring contaminants from one medium to another, in this case from the soil to the atmosphere, but is unfortunately commonly allowed based on VOC concentrations anticipated to enter the atmosphere and then calculating the risk of harm to potentially exposed receptors (e.g. people), that is if the risk is calculated to be below a certain threshold value.
For calculated exposures above a certain threshold level then vapors would typically need to be captured.
I have not read the report you noted, however, it may recommend the type of mitigation system preferred, and also include the risk calculations as basis for the recommendations.
I hope this helps.
Stephen Cipot