November 29, 2005

NYS Department of Environmental Conservation

NYS Office of Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation

Re: 2005 NYS Open Space Conservation Plan Draft

To the Representatives:

Thank you for holding these hearings and for giving the public the opportunity to comment on the Agencies’ proposals for preservation of open space in NYS.

I represent the Croton Watershed Clean Water Coalition, Inc., a not-for-profit association of over 50 groups throughout NYC, Westchester and Putnam Counties. Our mission is to protect and preserve the source waters in the Croton Watershed that supply 10% of NYC’s needs, and up to 30% in times of drought. The Croton System is closely interwoven with the Catskill/Delaware System. Together, they supply 9 million people, over half of NYS, with what is regarded the best drinking water of any large city in the US, or even in the world.

We welcome the opportunity provided to us by the Open Space Conservation Plan to protect some of the land that protects the source waters of the Croton.

We fully support your Goals. At the head of the list of Goals is “To protect water quality in New York State including the quality of surface and underground drinking water supplies and the quality of lakes, streams and coastal and estuarine waters needed to sustain aquatic ecosystems and water based recreation.”

In keeping with the importance of protecting our drinking water sources, CWCWC notes with approval the additions of new East of Hudson Croton Watershed areas that were not included in the 2002 list. In particular, we support the Croton-to-Highlands Biodiversity Area that includes the Towns of Cortlandt, Yorktown and New Castle, all of which are situated, in part, in the Croton Watershed. Its importance is underlined by your statement: “This area of the Croton Reservoir System has also been identified by the Forest Service as a Highlands Conservation Focal Area.” 

We also note with approval the addition of Northeastern Westchester Watershed and Biodiversity Lands that include the Towns of Lewisboro, Pound Ridge, Bedford, and North Castle. These also were not included in the 2002 list, and we welcome what we hope will be extra protection for Croton water as well as Stamford and Greenwich water.

However, CWCWC notes an important omission – the Town of Somers. Somers is overwhelmingly in the Watershed and pollution carried by its stormwater can have serious impacts on the Amawalk, Muscoot and New Croton Reservoirs. All three reservoirs are listed as being phosphorus-impaired and have been assigned TMDLs. All three lie within the 60-day travel time.

There is one piece of land in particular that juts out like a sore thumb into the middle of the Amawalk Reservoir – that is the Granite Pointe subdivision. This heavily-forested, 29-acre peninsula was close to being developed with 23 housing units when the process was halted thanks to local, grassroots action. The discovery that the area had once served as a shooting range and was and still is contaminated with lead has led to the developer being forced to remediate the site. So far, to the best of my knowledge, the developer has not presented a remediation plan.

CWCWC and others would like to see this piece of land taken out of development and left in its natural state which, as we have already mentioned, is heavily forested. Developing Granite Pointe would be dangerous for water quality in the reservoir. EPA , in its Stormwater Phase II Final Rule, states: “Sediment runoff rates from construction sites are typically 10 to 20 times greater than those from agricultural lands, and 1,000 to 2,000 times greater than those of forested lands. During a short period of time, construction activity can contribute more sediment… than can be deposited over several decades, causing physical and biological harm to our Nation’s waters.”

In a letter to Commissioner Sheehan, dated October 12, 2005 regarding the 2004 Highlands Conservation Act, CWCWC together with Federated Conservationists of Westchester County, Natural Resources Defense Council, New York Public Interest Research Group, Riverkeeper, Sierra Club – Lower Hudson Group urged DEC “to permanently protect the Granite Pointe parcel…” citing many of the reasons that we have stressed. A copy of the letter is included with this submission.

Please consider adding Granite Pointe, an environmentally sensitive and critically important piece of land, to your roster of those that are in immediate need of protection.

Respectfully submitted,

Marian H. Rose, Ph.D.

President, CWCWC