Planning a water filtration plant on Cornwell Ave.

New York American Water met with several dozen Malverne residents on March 14 to discuss the layout and cosmetics of a ‘temporary’ water filtration plant that it would like to build on land it owns in the middle of a residential area in Malverne.

The property, located on Cornwell Avenue, butts up against the backyards of most properties surrounding it on Cornwell Avenue, Linden Street, Legion Place and Maple Street. The water company has owned the property since the early 1960s.

During the meeting, New York American Water company executives presented several layout, landscaping, fencing and building options to residents, asking for their input in hiding the visual impact of the plant in their backyards.

Though the company puts the life of the plant at 10 years, it has hopes that it will actually last for 20. Richard Kern, a production manager for the company, told residents that he would gladly offer tours of a similar, temporary filtration plant in Lakeview that feeds water to the eastern perimeter of Malverne. That plant, however, does not have housing over it, as the one in Malverne will.

Water company executives said during the meeting that the company wanted to do its best to communicate with the residents and be a good neighbor, but several residents voiced concern that, over the years, their complaints to the water company about its property have gone unheeded. Resident Sheila Palmer said she had called the water company numerous times to ask the company to tend to a tree creeping into her yard. Another Malverne resident, who said he had been living in the village since the early 1960s, said that the water company promised to plant shrubs around its property decades ago, and never did.