49.0°,
Overcast Restoring a historical local watering hole
Willow Pond in Hewlett Harbor to receive $452K in clean up work
After years of neglect and a buildup of storm water run off, sediment and debris, a nearly half a million dollar project to restore the natural habitat of Willow Pond in the Village of Hewlett Harbor is expected to get underway this fall.
The Willow Pond Improvement Project is targeted to clean up the north end of Willow Pond, which was first used as a watering hole for settlers of the area beginning in 1620, has filled in with sediment from storm drains, making the pond shallow and narrow, according to Deputy Mayor Len Oppenheimer.
“Residents have said when they moved in they used to have docks and rowboats but now there’s only an inch or two of water,” he said. “There’s no depth whatsoever and it’s a health hazard.”
Oppenheimer said the main goal of the improvement project is to restore the pond’s natural freshwater habitat. A combination of funds will finance the $452,000 restoration; two Nassau County Environmental Bond Act grants, one for $202,000 that was attained in 2004 and another for $150,000 in 2006 as well as a contribution of $100,000 from the Town of Hempstead.
“The wildlife needs to be protected and we want to ensure the loss of habitat doesn’t continue,” Oppenheimer said.
Applying for the Bond Act grants was a lengthy process, Oppenheimer said. “The process itself took a long time because we had to review plans, get it through legislation, find a contractor and go to bid,” he said.
BiMasco, Inc., located in Hauppauge, is the contractor that will perform the work. They will start by removing sediment from the north end of the pond to deepen it and then put in a filtration device to filter out physical debris that will collect in a basket. Once the filtration system is installed, Hewlett Harbor and the Village of Hewlett Bay Park will be responsible for ongoing maintenance.
The project originally started seven years ago when Oppenheimer was appointed commissioner of the Willow Pond committee that serves both Hewlett Bay Park and Hewlett Harbor villages. “We work together to ensure the pond remains a viable natural resource for the community,” he said.
