Photo: Karin Wompa, Sleepy Hollow Trustee delivers Mayor's statement
Photo: Jennifer Lobato-Church, Sleepy Hollow Trustee-Elect asks about the remediation process
By Suzanne Rothberg
Residents had the opportunity to weigh in on their concerns about the former General Motors assembly plant contamination findings and clean up. A public meeting was held on March 22 at the Galgano Senior Center in Sleepy Hollow. New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, with the New York State Department of Health and General Motors, discussed redevelopment plans, investigation results and the proposed contamination remediation with residents and the representatives from the Village of Sleepy Hollow.
The site is located along the eastern shore of the Hudson River and occupies approximately 96.5 acres and is bisected by an active passenger and freight rail corridor. It's been owned and operated by General Motors Corporation since 1914. GM ceased assembly operations in July 1996.
The detailed Power Point presentation was lead by Michael J. Knipfing, from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, illustrated the chemical and pollution control, the progress of the environmental and Brown Field clean up and regional remediation project information.
Representatives from General Motors and the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (NYDEC) and the New York State Department of Health, (NYDOH) got the public’s input on the former GM site.
Fay Navratil of the NYDOH from Troy, New York stated in her Power Point slide presentation that their role is to assist the DEC with the investigation and clean up of the GM site.
“The purpose is to ensure that the community is protected from all potential exposure to chemicals and the remedial work that will occur after the final remedy,” stated Navratil in her presentation. “ ’Exposure’ is defined as physical contact with a chemical or substance through inhalation, ingestion or direct contact with a substance. One or more of these physical contacts have to occur for a chemical to have potential health threats.” We took a look and evaluated potential contaminated air, ingestion of contaminated ground water, soil sediments and direct contact with the sediments in the soil and ground water. As of now, inhalation of contaminated air is non-threatening—the proposed plan is to ensure that the contaminants are not a threat to property owners.”
Joe White is a Section Chief at the DEC in Albany.
“The meeting was to give the people the opportunity after reading the material handed out during the comment period, to ask us questions directly and get them answered and, to raise any concerns that they have—and that’s not over yet. The public can submit comments to us by email and written comments through the postal service and, we’ll respond to them, “ White explained to Sleepy Hollow-Tarrytown News. “We also had General Motors present so if they had questions about the development and future plans for the property, they could make comments.”
White said that Riverkeeper wanted more time to absorb the information presented at the meeting.
“They (Riverkeeper) seemed to indicate that they thought the remedy was inadequate, which of course we don’t agree with—we would be interested to get their comments and hearing what they have to say—it’s not a significant threat site, it’s a class 3 site with the Brownfield program. (Definition: With certain legal exclusions and additions, the term “brownfield site” means real property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant.)
We have a volunteer that’s come along and wants to put it into productive use, which is the whole intent of the Brownfield program. The measures that we’ve taken, are focused on the future use so, that is why we are protective of it and human health and the environmental issues associated with it which we think we’ve done.”
Members of the Sleepy Hollow Village Board of Trustees and Mayor Ken Wray were in attendance.
Trustee, Karin Wompa described her take on the meeting.
“I thought it was a very comprehensive presentation. It put everything into perspective, into focus and it evoked an array of interesting questions from the audience. I think the DEC and the other representatives answered the many questions the people had about the project,” Wompa said. She added, “GM is taking care of what they have to legally.”
Nicholas Robinson, Professor of Law, Co-Director, Center for Environmental Legal Studies at PACE University Environmental, is a Sleepy Hollow resident and former chairman of the Sleepy Hollow Planning Board.
“It was a very thorough discussion I think that the documentation for this brownfield remediation is vast and the request for additional time was reasonable because people need time to read through these documents. It would have been nice to have two or three meetings like this for members of the public,” said Robinson. “I want to make sure that the safeguards are there in the brownfields process so that the contaminated dust from the site doesn’t blow into the neighborhoods and people in the adjacent areas to contaminate them with lead and perhaps some other chemicals.”
Sleepy Hollow Mayor felt the settlement monies could be used for Kingsland Point bath house programs.
“I strongly believe that the settlement paid by General Motors for $875,000 that money should be spent right here in this community,” explained Mayor Ken Wray. “We can use it in Kingsland at the bathhouse for an education program and if not there, I think we can do something on the Pocantico River.” The development on the GM site will be a mix of housing, a hotel and some retail and restaurants, a small supermarket and an enormous amount of new parkland. There is 150 feet buffer between the Hudson river and the nearest buildings. The GM land is going to be dedicated to the Village and that’s going to be a big addition to the ‘Riverwalk’ from Ichabod’s Landing all the way to Kingsland-- another big green strip wrapping around the back side of Kingsland—a fantastic addition to the Village.”
Mario Belanich, is a former 44-year GM employee. He expressed his overall concern on mercury lead poisoning at the site but later praised GM’s work on the new development on the site.
“The worst thing for any human being is mercury. If you know anything about people who work in a mercury mine, they are only allowed to work for a certain number of years at a time, then they have to stop or, they could get contaminated—I think whatever GM did so far is more than enough and I hope GM is involved in this because I know that whatever GM does they’re going to do good with the development.”
Tracy Brown of Riverkeeper and a resident of Sleepy Hollow said her main concern was that there’s no interest in the public comments.
“I feel like we’re getting the ‘card punched’ here but, the fact that their schedule shows an approval of the plan the day of or, after public comments are even due, shows that this is a deal that’s been done—it’s good to see people turning out but I think that if they were really planning on reading our comments and having them reflected in the plan that there would have been time built into their schedule between receiving them and finalizing it. I think they would be issuing a response document which is something that they do often on these projects, I don’t see any integration of this in the process.”
Katherine Heselina-Hicks of Rye addressed her concerns to the public at the meeting. She’s a student at Pace Law School studying environmental law.
“I have interest in the subject matter and experience learning about the General Motors site. It was interesting to see the presentation and be able to understand why there was limited scope of the information that was released to the public based off of a settlement negotiations and alternative remediation that was planned—I think going forward if there’s enough public interest and public comment, it can get extended and there could be more public awareness and a chance to look through the materials,” commented Heslina-Hicks. She added, “I’m happy that they had this forum for us I just hope that whatever comes through on this remediation is effective. My concern focused on the sediment remediation that has yet to occur. The alternative was the maximum possible to get it back to what it would be before anything happened and the other one was this 3.7 million dollar plan focused on outfall one. There seems there is a large separation between the two and I wanted a better explanation as to why there was another alternative presented.”
David Bedell, Chairperson of the Sleepy Hollow Environmental Advisory Council (SHEAC), said that he’s glad that the public is learning about the Hudson River clean up in depth.
“I hope the DEC gives the public a little more time to review the data and submit comments, said Bedell. “My biggest concern is that there may be alternate methods that are practical and aren’t being considered.
NYSDEC extended the time for public comments.
Publisher: Community Media on Hudson
Editor, Sunny McLean
Video production of meeting: Sleepy Hollow -Tarrytown Community Media
Photo: Jennifer Lobato-Church, Sleepy Hollow Trustee-Elect asks about the remediation process
By Suzanne Rothberg
Residents had the opportunity to weigh in on their concerns about the former General Motors assembly plant contamination findings and clean up. A public meeting was held on March 22 at the Galgano Senior Center in Sleepy Hollow. New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, with the New York State Department of Health and General Motors, discussed redevelopment plans, investigation results and the proposed contamination remediation with residents and the representatives from the Village of Sleepy Hollow.
The site is located along the eastern shore of the Hudson River and occupies approximately 96.5 acres and is bisected by an active passenger and freight rail corridor. It's been owned and operated by General Motors Corporation since 1914. GM ceased assembly operations in July 1996.
The detailed Power Point presentation was lead by Michael J. Knipfing, from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, illustrated the chemical and pollution control, the progress of the environmental and Brown Field clean up and regional remediation project information.
Representatives from General Motors and the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (NYDEC) and the New York State Department of Health, (NYDOH) got the public’s input on the former GM site.
Fay Navratil of the NYDOH from Troy, New York stated in her Power Point slide presentation that their role is to assist the DEC with the investigation and clean up of the GM site.
“The purpose is to ensure that the community is protected from all potential exposure to chemicals and the remedial work that will occur after the final remedy,” stated Navratil in her presentation. “ ’Exposure’ is defined as physical contact with a chemical or substance through inhalation, ingestion or direct contact with a substance. One or more of these physical contacts have to occur for a chemical to have potential health threats.” We took a look and evaluated potential contaminated air, ingestion of contaminated ground water, soil sediments and direct contact with the sediments in the soil and ground water. As of now, inhalation of contaminated air is non-threatening—the proposed plan is to ensure that the contaminants are not a threat to property owners.”
Joe White is a Section Chief at the DEC in Albany.
“The meeting was to give the people the opportunity after reading the material handed out during the comment period, to ask us questions directly and get them answered and, to raise any concerns that they have—and that’s not over yet. The public can submit comments to us by email and written comments through the postal service and, we’ll respond to them, “ White explained to Sleepy Hollow-Tarrytown News. “We also had General Motors present so if they had questions about the development and future plans for the property, they could make comments.”
White said that Riverkeeper wanted more time to absorb the information presented at the meeting.
“They (Riverkeeper) seemed to indicate that they thought the remedy was inadequate, which of course we don’t agree with—we would be interested to get their comments and hearing what they have to say—it’s not a significant threat site, it’s a class 3 site with the Brownfield program. (Definition: With certain legal exclusions and additions, the term “brownfield site” means real property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant.)
We have a volunteer that’s come along and wants to put it into productive use, which is the whole intent of the Brownfield program. The measures that we’ve taken, are focused on the future use so, that is why we are protective of it and human health and the environmental issues associated with it which we think we’ve done.”
Members of the Sleepy Hollow Village Board of Trustees and Mayor Ken Wray were in attendance.
Trustee, Karin Wompa described her take on the meeting.
“I thought it was a very comprehensive presentation. It put everything into perspective, into focus and it evoked an array of interesting questions from the audience. I think the DEC and the other representatives answered the many questions the people had about the project,” Wompa said. She added, “GM is taking care of what they have to legally.”
Nicholas Robinson, Professor of Law, Co-Director, Center for Environmental Legal Studies at PACE University Environmental, is a Sleepy Hollow resident and former chairman of the Sleepy Hollow Planning Board.
“It was a very thorough discussion I think that the documentation for this brownfield remediation is vast and the request for additional time was reasonable because people need time to read through these documents. It would have been nice to have two or three meetings like this for members of the public,” said Robinson. “I want to make sure that the safeguards are there in the brownfields process so that the contaminated dust from the site doesn’t blow into the neighborhoods and people in the adjacent areas to contaminate them with lead and perhaps some other chemicals.”
Sleepy Hollow Mayor felt the settlement monies could be used for Kingsland Point bath house programs.
“I strongly believe that the settlement paid by General Motors for $875,000 that money should be spent right here in this community,” explained Mayor Ken Wray. “We can use it in Kingsland at the bathhouse for an education program and if not there, I think we can do something on the Pocantico River.” The development on the GM site will be a mix of housing, a hotel and some retail and restaurants, a small supermarket and an enormous amount of new parkland. There is 150 feet buffer between the Hudson river and the nearest buildings. The GM land is going to be dedicated to the Village and that’s going to be a big addition to the ‘Riverwalk’ from Ichabod’s Landing all the way to Kingsland-- another big green strip wrapping around the back side of Kingsland—a fantastic addition to the Village.”
Mario Belanich, is a former 44-year GM employee. He expressed his overall concern on mercury lead poisoning at the site but later praised GM’s work on the new development on the site.
“The worst thing for any human being is mercury. If you know anything about people who work in a mercury mine, they are only allowed to work for a certain number of years at a time, then they have to stop or, they could get contaminated—I think whatever GM did so far is more than enough and I hope GM is involved in this because I know that whatever GM does they’re going to do good with the development.”
Tracy Brown of Riverkeeper and a resident of Sleepy Hollow said her main concern was that there’s no interest in the public comments.
“I feel like we’re getting the ‘card punched’ here but, the fact that their schedule shows an approval of the plan the day of or, after public comments are even due, shows that this is a deal that’s been done—it’s good to see people turning out but I think that if they were really planning on reading our comments and having them reflected in the plan that there would have been time built into their schedule between receiving them and finalizing it. I think they would be issuing a response document which is something that they do often on these projects, I don’t see any integration of this in the process.”
Katherine Heselina-Hicks of Rye addressed her concerns to the public at the meeting. She’s a student at Pace Law School studying environmental law.
“I have interest in the subject matter and experience learning about the General Motors site. It was interesting to see the presentation and be able to understand why there was limited scope of the information that was released to the public based off of a settlement negotiations and alternative remediation that was planned—I think going forward if there’s enough public interest and public comment, it can get extended and there could be more public awareness and a chance to look through the materials,” commented Heslina-Hicks. She added, “I’m happy that they had this forum for us I just hope that whatever comes through on this remediation is effective. My concern focused on the sediment remediation that has yet to occur. The alternative was the maximum possible to get it back to what it would be before anything happened and the other one was this 3.7 million dollar plan focused on outfall one. There seems there is a large separation between the two and I wanted a better explanation as to why there was another alternative presented.”
David Bedell, Chairperson of the Sleepy Hollow Environmental Advisory Council (SHEAC), said that he’s glad that the public is learning about the Hudson River clean up in depth.
“I hope the DEC gives the public a little more time to review the data and submit comments, said Bedell. “My biggest concern is that there may be alternate methods that are practical and aren’t being considered.
NYSDEC extended the time for public comments.
Publisher: Community Media on Hudson
Editor, Sunny McLean
Video production of meeting: Sleepy Hollow -Tarrytown Community Media
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