All: Welcome to Tarrytown Tidbits, a new blog about various features and developments related to our lovely Hudson River village. For our first post I've included a recent dialogue among residents related to the Tarrytown Lakes, beginning with a concern I registered through email after spotting a dark substance flowing across the trail along the lakes. There were several interesting responses, including one from Mayor Drew Fixell, copied below. Feel free to add to the discussion by clicking on the comments link at the end. Rob DeRocker
Late February, 2008: Tarrytown friends: I went running this morning on the trail next to the Tarrytown lakes and when I came up to the area near the big green tank – which I had always assumed was a water tank – I noticed the snow was soaked with what appeared to be oil (I doubt it was molasses but it had that color and stranger things have happened). Can anyone enlighten me? One always worries about the lakes in situation like this but perhaps oil spills there are routine and nothing worth alarm…
(A week later): A re-visit to the trail along the Tarrytown Lakes cleared up the mystery
regarding what had earlier appeared to be an oil spill of some sort
flowing toward the lakes. The good news is that it's not petroleum. The bad news is that whatever it is can't be much better than petroleum for the water quality in the
lakes.
As you'll note in the attached photos the bike path along the Lakes is
bisected by a road near the green water tank. If you go up the hill on that road (away from the lakes) you'll arrive at a huge, house-sized composting pile, where apparently the leaves and
other detritus from the Village have been piled (maybe for years, as far
as I know).
Flowing down the hill from that pile is a gooey, molasses-colored
substance with a bit of an oily sheen. The attached photos don't
really do justice to it -- you really need to go there to get a full
sense of it. The flow has a distinctive odor, not unlike molasses.
I'm not a scientist, and for all I know flows like this from giant
mounds of compost are just what lakes need. But I wanted to point it
out in the event that this is not the case. If you know more about this
than I and care to enlighten the folks on this blind-copied email list,
feel free to do so. Many thanks. Rob DeRocker
regarding what had earlier appeared to be an oil spill of some sort
flowing toward the lakes. The good news is that it's not petroleum. The bad news is that whatever it is can't be much better than petroleum for the water quality in the
lakes.
As you'll note in the attached photos the bike path along the Lakes is
bisected by a road near the green water tank. If you go up the hill on that road (away from the lakes) you'll arrive at a huge, house-sized composting pile, where apparently the leaves and
other detritus from the Village have been piled (maybe for years, as far
as I know).
Flowing down the hill from that pile is a gooey, molasses-colored
substance with a bit of an oily sheen. The attached photos don't
really do justice to it -- you really need to go there to get a full
sense of it. The flow has a distinctive odor, not unlike molasses.
I'm not a scientist, and for all I know flows like this from giant
mounds of compost are just what lakes need. But I wanted to point it
out in the event that this is not the case. If you know more about this
than I and care to enlighten the folks on this blind-copied email list,
feel free to do so. Many thanks. Rob DeRocker
Hi Rob...the Tarrytown Beautification and Enhancement Foundation is very interested in the Lakes and, in fact, has put up an osprey nesting pole to entice the osprey to stay at the lakes. This week there have been several bald eagles feasting there and it is imperative that the residents of the Village understand what an exceptional resource we have there and how we must strive to protect it. We are now looking into another nesting site and getting the village to stock the lakes with fish. I’m aware that your group has been very active trying to protect the lakes as well. I would appreciate getting your email list so that I can reach as many residents as possible to inform them as to what the Foundation is trying to achieve. We do have a village wide mailing, but often mail gets piled up and people fail to see it. I appreciate your help in this matter. Thanks. Susan Sincero (president, TBEF)
Rob: The big green tank is Tarrytown Low Service Water tank. If you see a lot of oil I would suggest contacting the Village Dept of Works, and also the Town Clerk. You could also take a digital picture of it and e-mail them.
Would like to get a e-mail list of your "Save the Lake people" or attend your net meeting. Has anyone ever though of doing something with the Lakes? Cleaning up the pollutants and making it into a summer swimming lake and perhaps small sail boat and canoes ? Craig Allen
Would like to get a e-mail list of your "Save the Lake people" or attend your net meeting. Has anyone ever though of doing something with the Lakes? Cleaning up the pollutants and making it into a summer swimming lake and perhaps small sail boat and canoes ? Craig Allen
Craig,
Saw your question about the Lakes and thought I'd throw something your way...
Several years ago, one of the residents on Wilson Park Drive went on this rant about the Village having no imagination, and what they should do to rehabilitate the reservoir is lease all or part of it to a fish farm.
After you get past the oddness of the idea, it begins to make great sense.
An attractive lease of $1/year with the condition of rehabilitating the water would attract a vendor who sees the merit of having the closest fish farm to Manhattan and it's bevy of restaurants. There is the issue of farming-related contaminants, but an organic process skirts that drawback.
As things are, the Lakes are woefully eutrophic, and rehabbing it to drinking status is cost prohibitive. The settled goal is to keep it from becoming a swamp. A fish farm is the kind of out-of-the-box thinking that breathes life into a hopeless situation.
BY THE WAY... have you seen the dumping area the town have created off Tower Hill Road? It's on the way down to the Lakes, surely in the watershed area... a dozen or so twenty-foot high piles of mostly-organic refuse.
(When was this idea ever proposed publicly??? So that's why the DPW created those eight-foot burms of mulch along the roadside... to obscure their dubious creation.) Brian Kelly
Saw your question about the Lakes and thought I'd throw something your way...
Several years ago, one of the residents on Wilson Park Drive went on this rant about the Village having no imagination, and what they should do to rehabilitate the reservoir is lease all or part of it to a fish farm.
After you get past the oddness of the idea, it begins to make great sense.
An attractive lease of $1/year with the condition of rehabilitating the water would attract a vendor who sees the merit of having the closest fish farm to Manhattan and it's bevy of restaurants. There is the issue of farming-related contaminants, but an organic process skirts that drawback.
As things are, the Lakes are woefully eutrophic, and rehabbing it to drinking status is cost prohibitive. The settled goal is to keep it from becoming a swamp. A fish farm is the kind of out-of-the-box thinking that breathes life into a hopeless situation.
BY THE WAY... have you seen the dumping area the town have created off Tower Hill Road? It's on the way down to the Lakes, surely in the watershed area... a dozen or so twenty-foot high piles of mostly-organic refuse.
(When was this idea ever proposed publicly??? So that's why the DPW created those eight-foot burms of mulch along the roadside... to obscure their dubious creation.) Brian Kelly
Brian:
Thanks for the information.
Has anyone every proposed using upper lake ( the smaller reservoir) as a
swimming lake? If the Village could see some revenue from the lakes then
they may have more of an interest in protecting them. Do you know how
much Sleepy Hollows Philip Manor Beach Club memberships are? The Hudson River must be a lot more polluted than the Lakes, for example the sewage treatment plants only resume final processing two weeks before Memorial Day.
As for the Fish Farm brilliant. Have any commercial fish farm interest ever been approached to gauge their interest of for a feasibility study?
I had wondered why the building at the weir end (EastView) of the reservoir had not been rehabilitated into a restaurant or coffee and sandwich shop, apparently it is heavily contaminated with asbestos.
Is there a 'Save the Lakes' website ?
When does the Save the Lake committee meet?
What is the forum for putting ideas forward?
How do you find out past history?
Thanks. Craig Allen
O' Man of Questions...
I'm guessing that swimming would fall under the Rec Dept insurance policy... they do have ice skating. Given the fact that the Lakes have no solid bottom, swimming might be a squishy experience, not to mention the likely presence of natural bacteria stuff.
The Beach Club membership is $400/year.
Best place for history is the Historical Society, on Grove Street.
There is a lot on file in Town Hall, but they'll get curious what you're up to.
FYI... the Lakes are not natural, but man-made (for municipal fire and water pressure service). In the late '70s, the Villages switched to the NYC system for drinking water. By the early '90s, the idea of rehabbing the Lakes became implausible, financially.
STL is an entity that manifests itself on a needs basis... there is no ongoing meeting that I know of. There is a more vital entity called Friends of the Lakes... based in Mahopac, they lobby for any and all county lakes that are threatened by development and abuse. There used to be a guy by the name of David Wright that ran the group:
ytdave@aol.com
I think the Village is less interested in revenue, than not getting tangled up in something they can't resolve. Essentially choosing where to apply limited resources and energy, and not creating a debacle that costs them in the elections. There's also the ties to county and state funds, which brings me to...
The Village needs a holistic vision for The Lakes, the bike/walking trail, and how these features tie into the North County Trail, which is part of the NY State Greenways. A decade ago, the State DOT was going to fund a widening and straightening of Neperan Road around the Lakes.
Residents pushed back vehemently, and the plan was dropped. But the DOT stated the funds were still available if the Village wanted to "downsize" the road. A now-defunct Environmental Committee, chaired by Brian Carr, drafted a recommendation to downsize... which I believe included asking Rockefeller for an easement to circumnavigate the Lakes with the walking path.
Whether the Village used the funds on the road renovation two years ago, I don't know.
While I used to be active on all these issues, I let it all go because of the energy/time drain. The various administrations have completely dropped the ball regarding how the Lakes and surrounding open space are impacted by development, and how the land was offered, on a silver platter, a once-in-a-generation opportunity to create a green corridor that connects two protected and funded State Greenways: the Croton Aqueduct and the aforementioned North County Trail. Not to mention twelve acres that Sleepy Hollow developed, which should've been an eminent domain for the school district.
But everyone is spineless or amateur. Or both. Brian Kelly.
I'm guessing that swimming would fall under the Rec Dept insurance policy... they do have ice skating. Given the fact that the Lakes have no solid bottom, swimming might be a squishy experience, not to mention the likely presence of natural bacteria stuff.
The Beach Club membership is $400/year.
Best place for history is the Historical Society, on Grove Street.
There is a lot on file in Town Hall, but they'll get curious what you're up to.
FYI... the Lakes are not natural, but man-made (for municipal fire and water pressure service). In the late '70s, the Villages switched to the NYC system for drinking water. By the early '90s, the idea of rehabbing the Lakes became implausible, financially.
STL is an entity that manifests itself on a needs basis... there is no ongoing meeting that I know of. There is a more vital entity called Friends of the Lakes... based in Mahopac, they lobby for any and all county lakes that are threatened by development and abuse. There used to be a guy by the name of David Wright that ran the group:
ytdave@aol.com
I think the Village is less interested in revenue, than not getting tangled up in something they can't resolve. Essentially choosing where to apply limited resources and energy, and not creating a debacle that costs them in the elections. There's also the ties to county and state funds, which brings me to...
The Village needs a holistic vision for The Lakes, the bike/walking trail, and how these features tie into the North County Trail, which is part of the NY State Greenways. A decade ago, the State DOT was going to fund a widening and straightening of Neperan Road around the Lakes.
Residents pushed back vehemently, and the plan was dropped. But the DOT stated the funds were still available if the Village wanted to "downsize" the road. A now-defunct Environmental Committee, chaired by Brian Carr, drafted a recommendation to downsize... which I believe included asking Rockefeller for an easement to circumnavigate the Lakes with the walking path.
Whether the Village used the funds on the road renovation two years ago, I don't know.
While I used to be active on all these issues, I let it all go because of the energy/time drain. The various administrations have completely dropped the ball regarding how the Lakes and surrounding open space are impacted by development, and how the land was offered, on a silver platter, a once-in-a-generation opportunity to create a green corridor that connects two protected and funded State Greenways: the Croton Aqueduct and the aforementioned North County Trail. Not to mention twelve acres that Sleepy Hollow developed, which should've been an eminent domain for the school district.
But everyone is spineless or amateur. Or both. Brian Kelly.
Rob,
I've been meaning to get back to you regarding the compost piles: We have applied for grants to determine whether the compost piles do present a problem for the lakes and, if so, whether there are mitigation measures that can be implemented. While it certainly doesn't look great, if you had the chance to watch the presentation by Dr. Mankiewicz regarding runoff from Wilson Park, he did suggest the idea that water flowing through compost is one of the ways to achieve greater purity. I don't know if that applies to our situation, but we do need to find out. The other problem is that there really is no other place available for the composting of leaves, and if we can't do it there, we may need to have them transported out of town, with all of the attendant costs and environmental issues that brings. In any case, we will get to the bottom of this shortly.
Drew Fixell
