A culvert replacement project at Crescent Beach in Glen Cove – one of the final major components of the remediation project — was recently completed.
The City of Glen Cove Department of Public Works (DPW) officials confirmed that, on February 26, a weeklong project to build the culvert was completed, and a strong current tidal exchange visible. The project is part of a comprehensive plan for reopening Crescent Beach, which has been closed for more than a decade due to bacterial contamination from a nearby estuary.
In the fall of 2021, the New York State Department of Conservation (DEC) approved a remediation plan for Crescent Beach including the installation of two Helix water filtration systems that were activated in the spring of 2022. Plans also called for the installation of pipes to channel estuary water into a bioswale with extensive plantings to purify the water before flowing to Crescent Beach and Hempstead Harbor; the cleaning of existing pipes; sand replenishment and re-grading; and the creation of a basin slope.
Minority Leader Delia DeRiggi-Whitton (D-Glen Cove) secured county funding for studies and worked closely with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, New York Institute of Technology Associate Professor Sarah Meylans, who oversees the school’s Center for Water Resources Management, H2M architects + Engineers and former Glen Cove Mayor Tim Tenke to determine the cause of the contamination and devise a strategy for eliminating the pollution so the beach can reopen.
““With this last major step now completed, I truly believe we have exhausted nearly every possibility that has been recommended, and I am hopeful that the beach will be open in the near future,” Minority Leader DeRiggi-Whitton said. “This has been a monumental undertaking, and I am thankful to everyone who has remained so focused on this vital project. I am truly looking forward to sharing this hometown gem with a new generation of Glen Cove families.”