Mineola Readies Bruce Terrace Flood Relief Project

Efforts to provide flood mitigation to residents of Bruce Terrace are being fast tracked by Village of Mineola officials with an estimated date for construction to begin by late May or early June.

“We’re moving forward pretty quickly with this,” Mineola Superintendent of Public Works Tom Rini said at a meeting of the on January 11 at . Preliminary survey work has already been completed with a public bid set to happen in late March or early April.

Rini had been asked to come up with a “synopsis” of the project by Mineola , who said there had been “miscommunication” between the residents of Mineola and Carle Place.

The proposed drainage improvement plan is a three-component project involving inter-municipal participation and cooperation between Mineola, Nassau County and the to provide storm water relief to reduce flooding on Bruce Terrace in Mineola as well as properties along the Mineola-Carle Place border adjacent to the Old Motor Parkway next to Westbury Avenue. Each of the three municipalities received an equal share of $2.4 million (roughly $800,000) of state funding, of . As part of the agreement, each of the three was required to commit additional funding to see to the project’s completion. Mineola’s share of the project would cost $1.7 million, less the state funding, for an estimated amount of $900,000.

“Obviously this is a multifaceted operation with three municipalities involved and we’re doing our best to get it done,” Strauss said. “This is a priority for us, I want this done, I want Mineola’s part to be done first.”

Mineola’s share of the project involves the installation of new drainage manholes, catch basins and removal and replacement of drainage pipe on Bruce Terrace and to the Mineola recharge basin. Over 400 ft. of overflow drainage pipe would be added to Dow Avenue from the existing drywells on Pilgrim Street to the new bypass on Sheridan Boulevard. Five additional catch basins, five 6 ft. diameter manholes and about 1,420 ft. of 18 or 24-inch drainage pipe on Liberty Avenue and a new outfall structure into the Mineola recharge basin to provide storm water relief for East Second Street is also part of the project.

“This was always contemplated because we do have an issue over on East Second Street with flooding,” Rini said of the outfall structure. “It’s all in the same drainage area.”

The splitting of the existing Mineola recharge basin into two storm water discharge areas would occur by constructing a retaining wall so one discharge does not affect the other. Rini stated that the splitting is required since storm water would be coming from four different locations and currently the village has two. He explained that without the splitting, the flow from the four pipes could create a “backwater condition and not allow that water from Bruce Terrace to drain out and come through.”

The county would install 1,715 ft. of a 36 or 48-inch “interceptor pipe” on Sheridan Boulevard from Raff Avenue across Westbury Avenue entering the Mineola recharge basin as well as abandonment of existing drain pipe on Sheridan and all reconnections at cost of $1.7 million.

North Hempstead would spend $1.1 million on drainage improvements including new drainage pipe and catch basins on four streets adjacent to Mineola Carle Place border.

The three entities agreed to use Dvirka & Bartilucci as the engineers and architects for each of the three components since the firm had worked with the village to develop the conceptual design, made a drainage study of the area and to ensure continuity of engineering.

The engineering services proposal was sent to North Hempstead in late August 2011, who received it in September, but “no other action has been taken by the town,” Rini said, requesting that the board move forward with the town’s portion of a property line survey for the Old Motorway Parkway property north of Westbury Avenue at a cost of $6,500 from AK Associates “for the purposes of a land use agreement” with the town because “the town hasn’t done this at this point” and since it is “critical” to a land use agreement.

“I know we’re moving, I know the county’s moving, I don’t see one entity moving,” village clerk Joseph Scalero said, explaining that the survey must be conducted first before the agreement can be drafted. The town cannot use the land until the use of the land is “defined” in such an agreement.

“There may be some encroachments upon there as well that we have to look and we need to define that property and its property lines in order to come up with a basis of where the town can use that property,” Rini said.

“The fact that there is some misinformation out there that somehow we are the ones that are holding up the town’s part of this project because we’re not giving them the land, well we can’t give them the land until they do the survey and frankly if they’re not going to do the survey now, we’ll go ahead and do it for them essentially and get the project moving and deal with it later,” deputy mayor Paul Pereira said.

“It seems like we’re moving along, I assume the county is moving along and for our part of the project to work the county has to do theirs,” trustee Lawrence Werther said. “It seems the only entity in here that’s dragging their feet is the Town of North Hempstead.”

North Hempstead stated that the town is still waiting for the agreement with the village in order to obtain the grant funding for the project and the town is prepared to begin work once the agreement is in hand. Mineola’s portion of the project is not dependent upon the town.

“We are and have been aggressively moving along and getting our part of the project done,” Pereira said.