Glen Cove gears up for a ferry

Temporary service expected to mitigate LIRR woes

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As the MTA, LIRR and Penn Station Task Force prepare for the transportation “summer of hell” that is expected to result from service cuts at Penn Station, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Glen Cove Mayor Reggie Spinello announced a temporary LIRR ferry service that will begin on July 10 and run from Garvies Point ferry terminal in Glen Cove to 34th Street in Manhattan.

A MTA news release stated the Glen Cove ferry service would be open to Long Island Rail Road ticket holders with monthly or weekly passes. As of now, three ferries will run from 6 to 10 a.m. from Glen Cove to 34th Street, and three will run back to Glen Cove between 3 and 7 p.m.

Spinello said the LIRR and Cuomo’s office are looking at a 149- and a 225-passenger vessel, with 500 to 600 commuters expected to travel in the morning and evening shifts.

The ferry terminal only has 109 parking spots, however. “It’s true that more parking needs to be built, and that’s part of our project as well,” said Frank Haftel, RXR Realty Garvies Point project manager. He added that RXR is working with the city to potentially build a parking garage for the ferry, but that idea is still in the planning phase.

“We’re trying to help the governor to mitigate the problems that are going to happen for our local commuters,” Spinello said. ”This is just something temporary that the city is trying to do to help.”

The mayor added that the state brought several operators to view the area in the past few days, and they are still waiting on a final decision.

Previously, a ferry service was operated from Glen Cove by Foxwoods Casino and the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation in Connecticut from May to November 2001. Deputy Mayor Barbara Peebles said she thinks the events of 9/11 led to its shutdown after only six months of service.

In 2016, the new $4.5 million ferry terminal was completed with grants from the Federal Highway Administration.

“I just think that a ferry is a pipe dream,” said Glen Cove resident Michael Ach. “They’ve failed repeatedly.”   

According to the updated LIRR summer schedule, the Port Washington and Babylon lines are being significantly affected, while the Oyster Bay line will remain on schedule.

“Have the ferry run from Port Washington,” said former Sea Cliff Mayor Claudia Moyne. “That’s the sensible thing to do.”

Moyne was the mayor of Sea Cliff — which sits across the creek facing Garvies Point — during the last ferry operation. “It hasn’t ever worked out before, and I can’t imagine it working out this summer when it’s all on short notice,” she added.

Current Sea Cliff Mayor Ed Lieberman said the village was not notified by the MTA or the City of Glen Cove about any of the proposed plans, and the village board is “perplexed” by the lack of communication. “You would think that something like this, where there is such a safety issue involved, that there would have been some coordinated effort to include our input,” he said.

Spinello said Cuomo’s office reached out a week ago about implementing the ferry service.

Lisa Travatello, the public relations officer for the city, said Glen Cove is not the ferry operator, and it is only providing the facility for the MTA and LIRR to use.

Safety concerns

Amy Marion, an attorney from Garden City representing the Committee for a Sustainable Waterfront, a Glen Cove nonprofit group, said the ferry terminal is 350 feet from where two separate yacht clubs have their sailing programs. “Eight-year-olds are in summer camps right where the ferry has to go,” said Marion, of Sea Cliff. “It’s not a place where a ferry should have to go through ever.”

“This is a navigable waterway. It’s open to the public. We don’t own it,” said Spinello. “It’s maintained by the federal and state agencies, like a highway.” He added that the city does have a harbor patrol in the waterway.

Peebles added that there are no safety concerns. “The building and the dock and the boat basin are gorgeous,” she said. And the dock has been available for ferry service for the past year. “We have hundreds and hundreds of people that have been waiting for this ferry,” she said.

Some residents also expressed their concerns over the noise and pollution they experienced with the previous ferry service.

The “ferry would run its motor for an hour,” said Sea Cliff resident Leslie Guerci. “If the ferry wasn’t going to be polluting the air unnecessarily, I would not be opposed to it.”

Former Mayor Bruce Kennedy, now the village administrator, said he’s concerned about an influx of traffic that will come to Sea Cliff as a result of the ferry. “If these cars are coming from points that would require them to drive through the village, I think that is something we should have been made aware of,” Kennedy said. “It’s just bizarre when you think about it.”

The temporary ferry service will run through Sept. 1.

Nakeem Grant contributed to this story.