Bowing to public pressure, the Town of North Hempstead has decided not to consider plans to have more waste transfers from New York City to sites in Port Washington. The latest meeting of the TONH council was packed with residents, many from the Roslyn area, coming together to oppose the proposed waste transfer plan.

Originally, the TONH planned to hold another public meeting on the plan later this month. However, Supervisor May Newburger, noting that the opposition came "with the deep emotion of remembered experience" decided, along with the rest of the council, that the plan was untenable.

According to Paula Aridas, a member of the Roslyn Landmark Society, the proposal would have meant an additional 250 tons of waste per day being shipped from the city to the North Shore. Local residents and organizations oppose the plan not just on traffic grounds, but also for environmental reasons, especially the kind of pollutants such waste may bring to the North Shore.

Ms. Aridas said those speaking out against the proposal at the meeting were representatives from the Roslyn Civic Association, the Roslyn Landmark Society, Village of Roslyn Deputy Mayor Nolan Myerson, and developers from Harbor Ridge senior housing on the Morewood Property in Port Washington. The developers, Ms. Aridas said, were concerned that they could not get funding for their housing project if there is more waste disposal taking place in the area. The Northern Boulevard area of Manhasset and Port Washington would see 44 additional trucks traveling back and forth from the site per day if the plan goes through, Ms. Aridas added.

In recent times, the TONH has closed and capped the L-4 landfill Port Washington and is under mandate from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to proceed with the closure of the L-5 landfill. The TONH has been receiving reimbursements from the DEC for costs relating to "substantial remediation" and work on the Port Washington landfills and transfer station. According to Supervisor Newburger, the TONH will be losing $2 million a year of that reimbursement. The TONH considered the proposal as a way to offset those losses. It was expected that the increased waste transfers would bring the town $1 to $1.5 million a year in revenues for at least three years and maybe even five years.

Unhappiness with the plan went beyond health concerns. Civic association leaders in Roslyn did not receive a mailing about the March 7 meeting until Saturday, March 4, only three days before the public hearing.

In a related story, The North Shore Environmental Alliance has announced its opposition to the use of the waste management garbage transfer station in Glen Cove for New York City garbage. Waste Management, Inc. has reportedly bid for garbage from the city to be trucked to several Long Island garbage transfer stations, including the one in Glen Cove.

According to the Alliance, Waste Management, if it is the winning bidder, will truck up to 400 tons of garbage a day to Long Island, where it will be sorted and then reloaded for shipments to out-of-state landfills. The Alliance claims that these garbage trucks would add to the already overburdened road system coming in and out of the North Shore peninsula, particularly the intersection of Glen Cove Road and Northern Boulevard. Alliance spokesman also claim that such trucks will go through the streets of both Roslyn and Roslyn Harbor, further exacerbating traffic problems in those villages. Finally, the Alliance maintains that "it makes no sense to further clog the LIE with garbage trucks coming out from New York City and then ship it back through the city to landfills."