Critical Davids Island legislative actions today
MEDIA ADVISORY: May 23, 2005
Contact: Judy Myers, (914) 995-7948
The County Board of Legislators will take up two important legislative items today, one involving the environmental remediation of Davids Island, the other deciding how to preserve the island’s rich historical past, that signify important substantive steps toward the County’s longstanding commitment to acquire the 78-acre historical island off the coast of New Rochelle as County parkland.
12:45 PM, Monday May 23 (Committee Meeting Room, County Office Building, 8th Floor)
At this joint meeting of the Legislation and Environment Committees, County Legislator Judy Myers (D-Mamaroneck), who has been spearheading the legislative effort to secure Davids Island as County parkland, will ask the committees to sign out legislation authorizing the County to enter into an agreement with the Army Corps of Engineers to make the County a party to the “historical assessment” component of the Corps’$4.1 million Davids Island cleanup project. The Corps is removing deteriorated, historically insignificant military facilities. As part of this cleanup project, it will be making recommendations about what to preserve in order to commemorate the rich history of the island. By the terms of the agreement with the Army Corps, the County will have a decision-making role on future appropriate uses of the island, in particular with regard to its historical preservation matters.
7:00 PM, Monday, May 23 Board of Legislators Meeting
The Board will vote on two legislative actions regarding Davids Island. The first involves committing the County to a state environmental program that will assess the extent of the remediation required before the County can take title to Davids Island as parkland. The County must commit $60,000 toward the investigation stage. The Board action on Monday authorizes this expenditure and commits the County to the remediation stage that follows the full investigation by the State Department of Environmental Conservation. The second, if signed out, will authorize the County to enter an agreement with the Army Corps of Engineers (discussed under 12:45 PM Committee meeting above) regarding becoming a party to the historical assessment process.
Background
After the announcement in 2001 by County Legislator Vito Pinto (D,I,WF-New Rochelle, Eastchester), Tim Idoni, Mayor of New Rochelle, and County Executive Andy Spano that the County intended to buy Davids Island from the City of New Rochelle for $6.5 million, the initiative was saddled with obstacles. First, there was the necessity of securing State legislation, ultimately enacted in 2002, that would allow the City of New Rochelle to convey the property to the County. Then, the County learned it would cost $12 million to do the environmental cleanup necessary before the County could take title. This revelation temporarily idled the project and put it on the back burner while the County searched for remediation funding sources.
The legislative actions before the Board today address important environmental and land use issues that have to this point gotten in the way of the County taking over Davids Island as parkland.
