With the ice skating season approaching, Oyster Bay Town Supervisor John Venditto recently announced that there will be a partial reopening of some facilities at Bethpage Community Park on Friday, Nov. 29. Bethpage Community Park is a town-owned facility which was donated to the Town of Oyster Bay in 1962. The 18-acre park is located on the west side of Stewart Avenue near its intersection with Cherry Avenue. Park facilities include a swimming pool, playground, baseball field and picnic area available to local residents.

Back in June, the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) held a public meeting at Bethpage JFK Middle School regarding the park, which was closed when soil testing found elevated levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in soils at the park. In early May, Venditto ordered that the park be closed until additional tests were completed and the DEC and Department of Health (DOH) have had an opportunity to present results of additional samplings to the community. They did just that on June 19.

While DEC officials announced at that meeting that there were PCBs, in addition to chromium, found at the park, they deemed that the park was ready to be reopened. Residents did not agree and Venditto echoed their sentiments at the meeting. During the meeting, DEC Regional Director Ray Cowen said that residents should not be concerned about the PCB and chromium levels because many areas which contain the contamination have been buried under grass, wood chips or gravel. Both residents and the town board did not agree that the park was safe and Venditto said at the meeting that burying the problem is not the answer and it should be gotten rid of once and for all.

Since there remains a concern regarding uncovered areas of the park, Venditto and the town board, after receiving assurance from the DEC and DOH, decided to only open covered areas of the park.

"I made a commitment that the park, or any portion of the park, would reopen only when the town was satisfied that conditions were suitable for public use," Venditto stated. "We have received those assurances from the DEC, DOH and our own environmental consultant concerning the plan to reopen the covered areas of the park. We look forward to a full and complete remediation of the grassy areas of the park following discussions between the DEC and the responsible parties."

On Nov. 29, there will be a partial reopening of all covered surfaces, including the ice skating rink, a parking lot and the tennis, handball and basketball courts.

"The decision to reopen these facilities was made following additional testing of the soil, air and water along with an evaluation by the town's environmental consultant and discussions with the State Departments of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and Health (DOH), the Commissioner of the Town Parks Department and my fellow town board members," Venditto said.

In addition to those facilities, the supervisor stated that the swimming pool will be open in time for the summer of 2003 and the playground directly adjacent to the pool will be upgraded with brand new equipment and a soft play surface. This playground will be reopened in the spring.

To ensure the safety of all residents, all grassy areas in the park, including the ball field (where the highest levels of PCBs were found in testing done earlier this year), picnic area and its playground will remain closed and fenced off from the rest of the park and the public until remediation, where necessary, has been completed.

The DEC has informed the town that their discussions with Northrop Grumman concerning additional testing of the grassy areas and the remediation process have been positive and continue to move forward.