Civic Joins Bi-County Open Space Coalition

The Glenwood / Glen Head Civic Association has joined the Hempstead Harbor Protection Committee and more than 100 other local civic, environmental, health, and advocacy groups in support of Long Island’s Last Stand (see Nature Conservancy link, right).

Launched by the Nature Conservancy, Long Island’s Last Stand is a 10-year action plan to save the most significant remaining open space and farmland in Nassau and Suffolk counties. The Nature Conservancy kicked off the initiative in January with an impressive assortment of local officials, including both county executives, in attendance.

Long Island’s Last Stand calls for protecting 25,000 acres of open space and 10,000 acres of farmland over the next decade and increasing funding for land and water management on Long Island by $85 million annually.

The Glenwood / Glen Head Civic Association has supported open space preservation and progressive land use strategies since its founding in 1999. Among the Civic Association’s local open space initiatives are:

• distribution of more than 8,000 informational flyers about each of the four local environmental bond acts—two in the Town of Oyster Bay (TOB), one in the Town of North Hempstead (TNH) and one that was county-wide;

• a proposal to include a Glenwood Landing Waterfront Greenway in the NYS Open Space Plan that was accepted by the Dept. of Environmental Conservation;

• participation in the Glenwood Landing Waterfront Revitalization and Redevelopment Plan, which established two new waterfront zones in the Town of Oyster Bay (TOB) portion of Shore Road and rezoned the Glenwood Landing and Glen Head portions of the North Shore Country Club from quarter-acre to half-acre zoning in keeping with the minimum lot size required on the Sea Cliff side;

• a proposal to include the utility lot south of Tappen Beach as a priority acquisition under the TOB environmental bond act that has been accepted by the town;

• support for creation of a Hempstead Harbor Blueway (canoe / kayak trail) as part of the Hempstead Harbor Management Plan, a plan that has been accepted by the county and all eight municipalities surrounding the harbor;

• support letters for many grants submitted by TOB, TNH, and HHPC, including restoration projects on the western shore of Hempstead Harbor and storm drain retrofits at Scudders Pond;

• participation in the review process for the Hinfin / Harbor Fuel / TNH property on Shore Road, where a 60-unit apartment building has been proposed, and the property on the northwest corner of Glenwood Road and Kissam Lane opposite the Glenwood Landing Post Office, where a seven-lot subdivision has been proposed.