The public has a great interest in the development of the Western Waterfront in Oyster Bay. That was evident by the number of people who came out to listen to a panel discussion presented by the Oyster Bay Civic Association, Feb. 17, at the Italian American Club.

The evening gave the members of the Sagamore Rowing Association a forum to ask for a larger and safer location on the site of the Western Waterfront.

Fireworks erupted when Town Clerk Martha Offerman surprised everyone with the strength of her protest on what was happening on the waterfront. She called for a new Western Waterfront steering committee to meet. Mrs. Offerman said the town has given away the western waterfront to the state and that it will be a haven for nonprofits. She was concerned that the public would be paying for the nonprofits.

Michael Bagan, as many residents, was under the impression that Beekman Beach belonged only to residents of the hamlet of Oyster Bay. Marie Knight had to reassure him that her research at town hall showed that it belongs to the Town of Oyster Bay residents. Beekman Beach was presented to Supervisor Harry Tappen by the Beekman family for use as a passive park.

The panel began with NYS Senator Carl Marcellino giving a history of the Western Waterfront Steering Committee. It was established to determine what the public wanted on the waterfront.

He told how $5 million in air quality funds gotten by then Senator Ralph Marino was switched with New York City land acquisition funds by Senator Marcellino for the purchase of the Jakobson Shipyard. Mike Deering was hired to do PR for the steering committee, he said, to spread the word to the township. The public was invited to the Oyster Bay High School to find out what they wanted on the waterfront.

They broke up into small groups of 40/50 people to share ideas. The suggestions were written on large pads that were the basis of five plans created by Cameron Associates.

The public was invited back to see the plans. They talked to members of the committee and made their comments. Plan "D" was chosen which determined that the Jakobson Shipyard buildings be taken down and a future Marine Education Center be built on the town's acreage on Jakes.

The DEC wanted a boat launching ramp for NYS residents. It was limited in size to small boats. The entranceway to the western waterfront will be changed from Bay Avenue to a road connecting with West End Avenue from the entrance to Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Park on Larrabee Avenue. It hasn't been created as yet, said Richard Lenz, of TOB DPW.

The Oyster Bay Sailing School has been operating out of Jakes from the present DEC building. There is a problem, said Mr. Marcellino because there can't be a commercial entity on state parkland. There is a current discussion on it becoming a not-for- profit entity. They are sensitive to the OBSS, because it is there already - and because it is a water related business.

The DEC owns the original Jakobson office building and has renovated it with $80,000 of state money. It houses offices of the Fish & Wildlife Service where they give classes in hunter safety and trapping. The Oyster Bay Sailing School has an office there as does the Christeen Oyster Sloop Preservation Corporation.

The DEC will have a presence there too.

The Baymen wanted a site to moor their boats, said Mr. Marcellino and one was found for them. There will be finger piers for their boats.

The Sagamore Rowing Association has a site location at Jakobson's. "They are good people," said Mr. Marcellino. He said he helped them receive grants at their Coindre Hall location in Huntington, as did Senator Marino before him. "They named boats for us and they race periodically," he said.

"They keep youngsters happy. In my opinion we want to keep them here."

The Marine Education Center is an important part of the plan, he said. It will take years, not months to become a reality. Later, Hank Tiska said the Christeen will be part of the MEC.

There is a plan to create a wetland along the Beekman Beach side of Jakobson's to clean up the pollution coming from the Mill Pond.

Mr. Marcellino said the steering committee's work is finished. The present decisions are being made on the basis of the Memorandum of Understanding between the TOB and the NYS DEC. Charles Hamilton of the NYS DEC and Richard Lenz of the TOB DPW are the managers of the Western Waterfront project.

John Cameron, CEO of Cameron Associates that was hired as the planner for the WW, said the next work item is to remove the dry dock. It is a navigational hazard, he said. West End Avenue will be rehabilitated. An off-loading area for the Baymen will be created as will the small boat launch area and the creation of the wetland pollution filtering system.

They will renovate the three remaining shipyard buildings south of West End Avenue. One building is for the storage of boats and shells; one is for public education and one is for the wooden boat repair shop.

Mr. Cameron said they will create the scenic overlooks that will create a magnificent site with a latticeway of walks and paths for the public to enjoy in a passive mode.

There will be a 25,000 sq. ft. Bay Constable building created on the Capone property which will house the dive and rescue operation of the Atlantic Steamer Fire Department.

There will be finger piers for the Oyster Bay Sailing School. Deep water will allow for the tall ships to dock at Jakobson's.

There will be picnic shelters and restrooms.

The entire project is expected to cost between $12 and $13 million, he said. They are working on preliminary designs for the Marine Education Center by setting their goals and objectives including flexibility for revenue producing programs. It is projected at two stories with a penthouse to fit into Oyster Bay aesthetics. There will be an entrance lobby, a children's area, a wet laboratory, rotating exhibits, touch tanks and more - to appeal to all ages.

Friends of the Bay and the new Marine Education Center group that is their spin-off did not attend the meeting. Denise Woodin, executive director of FOB said, "We weren't clear on the focus of the forum and about the participation (or lack of it) by Mr. Venditto and Mr. Marcellino." Mr. Venditto did not attend the Western Waterfront part of the meeting.

"We're trying to balance user groups that are water dependent. SRA is a good use of the waterfront but they have to be fit in with other uses," she said. "People can sit on the beach, fish from the pier, visit the Christeen - the plan tries to balance all the different needs."

The new organization, located in the same building as FOB, is called the Marine Education & Recreation Center at Oyster Bay. It has been formed as a nonprofit group with Rob Crafa as director. Fritz Coudert III and Judy Gershon are on the board and will raise funds for the center. They have $500,000 from Mr. Coudert; $10,000 from the Oyster Bay Chamber of Commerce and $100,000 from Mr. Coudert and Mrs. Richard C. Storrs - to create the center. They are starting with education plans that will begin in the spring.

At the meeting, Mr. Cameron said of their present plans: "Nothing is cast in stone."

Mr. Cameron said the planners are aware that the public doesn't want to detract business from the downtown area and they are conscious of that in their plans.

He waxed ecstatic on the benefits of the wetlands that will filter out soluble elements that can harm the harbor.

Facilitator Marie Knight introduced Richard McManus, math, science and technology supervisor of the Oyster Bay-East Norwich School District. He described the involvement of students in the district with environmental studies in kindergarten through the high school. He told how they use various locations on Long Island including the Oyster Bay Sewage Treatment Plant to teach science, and said he would love to be able to use the planned facility on Oyster Bay Harbor as a site for his student's work.

Richard Lenz said the town has received a grant to study the Mill Pond upland site and see what the pollutants coming from there are.

Charles Hamilton said, "This is a unique project. This is government working together. Since 1997, we have come a long way." The preliminary design, setting priorities for open space and marine education are in the works. He said they have money to work on the project and said, "We'll be walking on some green grass and paths by this summer."

In the discussion, Mr. Marcellino said he was a biologist. Legislator Brian Muellers said, 'I'm a biologist by my undergraduate work and a chemist by my Ph.D. Science is my passion so anything I can do for you - that's terrific."

He said there was no funding from Nassau County as yet, which elicited laughter from the audience. They didn't need an explanation.

He talked about the Planning Commission's report on open space and said he was happy to be invited to participate in the process.

Commodore Spencer Ross of the Sagamore Rowing Association took the podium and explained the history of the SRA. He thanked Senator Marcellino and Councilman Anthony Altimari for their assistance with grants and helping to get their current building on Beekman Beach. From their start in the 1950s as the Oyster Bay Rowing Association to the present SRA, they have helped young people learn to row. With over 400 members, they have trained thousands of young people, he said. They are members of the US Rowing Association and have a summer program to teach rowing. They will be working with the youth center this summer.

"Rowing is a noncontact sport, appealing to the non-football types - that teaches endurance, team work, aerobic workouts. It is self-propelled, good for the environment, and is an amateur sport that can be practiced into old age.

Their students have gone on to Olympic and national teams. A member, Reggie Minor rowed in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin.

"It (rowing) often gets them into the school of their choice," said Mr. Ross. "We are besieged by coaches from Penn, Harvard, Yale, Rutgers, Wisconsin, Columbia - for rowers. The founder of the FOB was an SRA member.

Judy James, a Friends Academy Librarian and a SRA crew coach read a letter from Richard Hanna, who rowed with FA and is currently at MIT studying mechanical engineering. He told how rowing taught him to focus and gave him the discipline that resulted in better grades.

She read a letter from Nancy Storrs, daughter of Frinny and Richard Storrs of Oyster Bay who is a rowing coach herself.

She went to the Olympics as a rower. "As a US Olympic Team we walked into the stadium - not only as a girl from Long Island, but as a member of the first team of women rowers - my eight - to go into the Olympic Hall of Fame."

She wrote she hoped they would consider the request of the SRA to have a home in Oyster Bay. "I have seen the powerful results. All children should be given these possibilities," she wrote.

Mrs. Storrs was in the audience.

Mr. Ross asked that the planners of the Western Waterfront allow them to build, at their own expense, a boathouse, in the center of the back of the parking lot, by the railroad track. They want to ensure the safety of their boats, which cost about $15,000, and the safety of their students who carry the boats to the harbor.

The present location chosen for them means a long walk carrying the boats across West End Avenue where cars will drive along.

They will build a suitable style building to conform to the Oyster Bay aesthetic.

They recently built a boathouse in Lloyd Harbor only to have the property sold out from under them. They want to be sure they have approval this time.

It was at this time that Michael Bagan said Beekman Beach was for local residents. Marie Knight said it is a township beach.

Eve Bernstein said, "It's a fait acompli, SRA is part of the Western Waterfront."

Senator Marcellino said at his request and urging they were put on the site plan.

Bob Bagan continued the fight for local use only for Beekman Beach.

Mr. Ross said the boaters use the beach early in the morning and later in the day until sunset to practice.

Eileen McFetridge said it was the Quonset hut that the public wanted removed. She said if they could, as rowers did in Poughkeepsie NY, build a beautiful boathouse, it would offend nobody. "That's what you have to do for us." There was applause after she spoke.

In response to Michael Bagan, Mr. Altimari said the deal includes the SRA giving rowing classes to town residents, something they have already done.

Martha Offerman, speaking as a Bayville resident said people are really upset. "I don't think this is any better than 11 years ago. We'll have a Bay Constable, the DEC, the SRA, the Atlantic Steamer Fire Department, the Christeen and the Sailing School all there. But there is no money for the Education Center." (As mentioned above, a committee is gathering funds for the center.)

She said, "We are losing control of the beach again." She said there should be a new steering committee organized.

It was Hank Tiska's turn to give the history of the Christeen starting with its being built in 1883 and working in Oyster Bay under Captain William Smith of Oyster Bay. It's been restored with state funds and the final work is being completed in the four-bay building south of West End Avenue on the Western Waterfront.

"We are the vessel of the Western Waterfront. We are starting a program with the Science Museum of Garvies Point. Eventually the ship will be under the stewardship of the Western Waterfront.

John Hambridge of Oyster Bay said his daughter, who wakes at 5:30 a.m. to row with the SRA, is being sought by colleges. "She's getting Internet letters daily. It's wonderful, even before going to Nassau Community College."

Coleen Duhamel, a student at Oyster Bay High School said she rows with the SRA. "I am in better shape, and more focused on my school work. There are so many values to rowing."

Mr. Ross said, "The SRA wants community approval for their choice of location. They want community pressure to let us have the site we want."

Before the public denies the SRA the site they want it is interesting to note that the plans allow for the state to build a 10,000 square foot building on the site, if they decide they want to.

It should be noted that when the project began the town believed that with the state running the Western Waterfront, local residents would not pay more in taxes for the project, while benefiting from the proximity of the site.