The office of County Executive Thomas Gulotta this week provided comments on the issue of the Carman Avenue Sumps, also known as Storm Basin #51, in response to concerns by local residents that the sump property was for sale. In last week's edition of The Westbury Times , residents expressed opposition to the sale of the property, after the county executive's office had issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the purchase of 20 of the 30 acres included in the property.

Úquot;No decision has been made to sell the property. And it is inappropriate to suggest that it has been. In fact the request for proposals legally requires that the sump space be reserved,Úquot; commented John Zaher, a spokesperson for the county executive.

He added, Úquot;Two years ago, a similar inquiry was made by the administration with regard to the disposition of property. And a decision was made at that time not to sell the property around the sumps. So that's as recently as two years ago.Úquot;

The most recent request to submit a proposal to purchase the property was made by Mort Certilman, he noted, and the RFP was issued by the county executive in response to this. Úquot;So that in fairness to all concerned, everybody would have an equal opportunity to submit a proposal,Úquot; said Zaher.

Asked when a decision will be made on whether the property would be sold, Zaher said he had no information at this time. He also declined to comment on reports that the county has received a bid of $10 million to build a housing development on the property.

-Andrea Morale