When Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi brought his economic redevelopment trunk show to Oyster Bay on March 4, local resident Henry Rappuhn suggested using the space taken by sumps to be used for further development. Mr. Suozzi said there are 600 sumps in the county and they are doing an inventory of them to see what usage is possible.

At the July 17 meeting of the Oyster Bay Civic Association, members heard about a plan for the use of the sump next to Stop & Shop on Route 106 in Oyster Bay. Recently Rob Brusca, who lives on Peerless Drive, close to the sump, saw surveyors putting up stakes in the five-acre recharge basin. He said shortly after that, a Stop & Shop representative canvassed the areas on Peerless Drive and Hill Drive to get resident's opinions on a possible expansion into the sump for additional parking. It would take a space about 220 x 400 feet, about two of the five acres. Mr. Brusca said he contacted Shelly Cohen, director of the NC Real Estate office who confirmed the story that Stop & Shop is looking to upgrade or expand their facilities in Nassau County. He said the county would include community input in the decision.

Mr. Brusca has drafted a flier explaining the intention of Stop & Shop and suggesting residents express their opinions to local elected officials.

After a discussion of the project by Mr. Brusca and with added information from Louise Harrison, Friends of the Bay executive director, the OBCA took a vote and a quorum of the membership voted in favor of maintaining the existing sump area and opposed to the expansion of Shop & Stop into the existing sump, Nassau County Storm Water Storage Basin #136. Matthew Meng, president of the East Norwich Civic Association said the vote was proactive not reactive. "If you wait for a sale, it's a battle," he said.

In talking to the group Mr. Brusca said he was concerned that an expansion would increase traffic on Route 106. "There is already difficulty getting out of the neighborhood with all the traffic," he said. His feeling is that the sump is public property and should be used for the public's benefit and said, increasing the bottom line of Shop & Stop is not in the public's interest. He said selling the sump might be a financial shot for Nassau County, but it is a one shot item, like the sale of the Nassau County Medical Center, and that it will hurt the community.

Marie Knight, OBCA president said she has also heard talk that they might be building a completely new Stop & Shop on the site, but she wasn't sure that was accurate. At the present time Town Hall has no information about the sump, only that it belongs to Nassau County. Mr. Brusca said another concern is that the proposed development would come on the heels of the Island Properties plans to expand into the area with an apartment house on the Pine Hollow Hallock property.

Louise Harrison showed OBCA members a picture of the sump taken from Map Quest on the Internet. She said a sump works like a coffee filter, taking out pollutants and letting clean water filter into the aquifer. She said that originally engineers built sumps with ramps leading down to their depths, so that when they had the funds, they would be able to drive a vehicle down and remove any plant material blocking the filtration. In the past 20 years they have discovered that nature's way is best. The sumps have filled in with vegetation and it helps in the drainage process.

She said, "Sumps are quite lovely pieces of open space. On Route 25A there are two sumps that have been transformed into scenic vistas. Someone stopping at the traffic light can look at wildlife. They have put in benches and re-organized the fences lower down the hill so you can see over it."

She said Nassau County said sump #136 has a 1.6 million cubic feet capacity. It was designed to work in the case of an 8" rainfall for a two-day period.

She added, "I was surprised that it is not precedent setting to sell a re-charge basin in Nassau County. Periodically over the past 20 years, Nassau County looks to see if it can sell whole or half sumps."

She said the county person she spoke to has seen the proposed plans for the Stop & Shop sump and said they propose to maintain the capacity of the sump. Ms. Harrison said she talked to her board members and to Rob Crafa, executive director of the WaterFront Center. His concern was that public land was being used for private purposes and that the purpose of a recharge basin is for the public's good.

As it stands today, the sump is an open space and is well developed with plants. Ms. Harrison made a quick visual inventory of the vegetation at the sump and said it was a mix of native and non-native vegetation. "It has a grassy center and I can hear birds. I'd like to get in further to walk around," she said. "There are also Norway Spruce, Black Oaks, white pines and some species we don't want: Asiatic bittersweet and Trace of Heaven.

Someone asked how close they are to a sale, but no one knew the answer. Mr. Brusca said Mr. Cohen thinks it is not imminent, but Mr. Brusca wasn't sure. The vote was taken this month, since the OBCA doesn't meet in August.

Ms. Harrison had more details about sumps. She said the present stormwater regulations call for a development to recharge its own stormwater on its own property and not into a sump. "Nassau County charges exorbitant fees to take someone else's stormwater into their recharge basin," she explained.

She said before Nassau County can sell any open space the sale has to be approved by the Nassau County Open Space Advisory Board. One of the FOB board members is on the NCOPAB and they haven't reviewed the proposal.

Mr. Brusca said since the time the sump was created there has been more development in the area: Norwich Gates, Mill-Max and Hallock Chevrolet were all built in the area where there were sandpits. Now there are more proposals to use the Hallock site. Ms. Harrison said FOB is interested in finding out what causes spikes in the chart of their water quality monitoring on White's Creek that receives water from the Route 106 corridor. She said at the June 10 meeting at town hall to discuss the Island Properties plan for 286 South Street she had suggested a Generic Impact Statement be done on all the proposed development in town. She said Abraham Poznanski of IP is "strongly considering a comprehensive study of the build out of the properties they own from the gateway area to the downtown area."

She said Mr. Poznanski is in favor of convening a group of citizens, led by FOB to begin strategizing on what can be proposed on the eastern waterfront. She said the "task force" would include people from the town, state, adjoining landowners, civic association, as well as Island Properties that own much of the land in the area, including the Commander Oil real estate and business.