On July 18, residents and business owners from the Glenwood Landing community were joined by neighbors from Glen Head and Sea Cliff for the first in a series of meetings to focus on a vision and plan for the properties along the area's waterfront. Of paramount concern is ensuring public access to the waterfront while harboring sustainable economic development in harmony with the environment. This concept has been espoused with success by Mayor Thomas Suozzi and his administration in Glen Cove over the past seven years in the effort to cleanup that city's waterfront.

The July 18 meeting was the result of a cooperative effort by the Town of Oyster Bay, the NY State Department of State via funding from the Environmental Protection Program and members of the Glenwood Landing Waterfront Steering Committee who include representatives of the Coalition to Save Hempstead Harbor, the Glenwood Landing/Glen Head Business Association, the Hempstead Harbor Protection Committee, the Glenwood/Glen Head Civic Association, the North Shore School District and the North Shore Environmental Alliance.

The area discussed has a history of intense industrial use-the Glenwood Landing Power Plant, the Mobil propane tank farm and off-loading barge to name a few. There are three active proposals for development on the waterfront: a small marina/marine salvage operation on property recently purchased by John Gladsky, the installation by KeySpan/LIPA of turbine generators and a Jaguar car dealership. Several existing issues will impact future development and they include the traffic situation on Shore Road, the clean up level of hazardous materials on several properties, stormwater/flood management and the impact upon the community should there be public acquisition of land formerly held privately. The Town of Oyster Bay has implemented a one-year moratorium for the waterfront which is in a critical state of transition with properties zoned for industrial use, vacant and underused properties, issues of contaminated sites and a number of pending proposals for waterfront development.

Town of Oyster Bay Supervisor John Venditto said everyone had come to the meeting to offer input and have constructive debate regarding the future of the Glenwood Landing waterfront. "The Town of Oyster Bay is turning to the residents for help to dictate what happens in this community. We live in an era and time where we must protect and preserve what has been built before us," said the supervisor. Mr. Venditto said the town was at a crossroads with different interests trying to take the town in several directions and cited the recent controversy regarding a proposed subsequently denied "mega-mall" on the Cerro Wire property in Syosset and a failed attempt to operate a ferry in Glenwood Landing.

John Ellsworth, an environmental scientist with Cashin Associates who is coordinating the waterfront project, separated the more than 350 people attending the meeting at the North Shore Middle School into eight groups with facilitators to allow for easier discussions on the future of the waterfront. Each group's ideas were then presented to everyone attending and provided food for thought until the next meeting.

Each group agreed that the proposed Jaguar dealership was not a good idea for the Glenwood Landing waterfront. The ideas for the future of the waterfront are: a library, state park, bus garage for the North Shore School District, senior housing, restaurant, lit ballfields, tennis courts, an aquarium, a pedestrian bridge over Shore Road, a bandstand, bicycle and pedestrian pathways, extend the promenade in Sea Cliff, more public use of Tappen Beach and, should property become available at the golf course, housing. Regarding the public acquisition of land, the consensus was that more information was needed on its economic impacts before it would be considered. Also expressed emphatically was the need for an increase in the community's tax base that would offer taxpayers relief. The next meeting on the waterfront will be announced as soon as the information gleaned from this meeting is ready for more discussion.