Deal struck for emergency road to Head of the Harbor homes after August storm damage
Construction is starting on an emergency access route for residents of Mill Creek Road in the Village of Head of the Harbor after the road, above, washed out in last month's storms, officials said Monday. Credit: Newsday/John Paraskevas
The Village of Head of the Harbor has reached an agreement with the Town of Smithtown and homeowners for an emergency access route to serve seven residences on Mill Creek Road after the road washed out in last month's flood.
Head of the Harbor Mayor Michael Utevsky said the village and town officials came to an agreement to build the access road through an easement on private property from Mill Creek Road to Emmet Drive, which connects to Harbor Road.
Mill Creek Road was the only road accessible to seven homes before it was flooded along the hillside and became inaccessible.
Utevsky said construction could begin Tuesday and is expected to take less than a week.
"We're finally seeing progress on all fronts," the mayor said Monday, just over a month after floodwaters from the Aug. 18-19 storms broke through a dam and also destroyed a section of Harbor Road connecting to Main Street in Stony Brook Village.
The Town of Smithtown is fronting the $170,000 cost to install the temporary paved road that is expected to be in place for up to a year, town spokeswoman Nicole Garguilo said. The cost includes removing the temporary road once Mill Creek Road is repaired.
The village is expected to reimburse the town for the expenses once emergency disaster funds for the road are approved. Town officials were delivering liability waivers to homeowners to sign Monday to cover the property where the road was being built.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency approved an initial state of emergency, declared by Gov. Kathy Hochul and signed by President Joe Biden, to cover up to 75% of expenses. Hochul has requested an additional major disaster declaration for homeowners and projects including roads, bridges and critical infrastructure.
Smithtown highway crews gathered at the end of Emmet Drive on Monday where they surveyed backyards for the emergency route that would cut through to allow access to Mill Creek Road homes below.
Mill Creek Road itself is privately owned by the Ward Melville Heritage Organization, which has been working separately with an engineering firm to rebuild it permanently in the coming weeks.
Private engineers were surveying the road Monday and the muddy lake bed of Mill Pond where the road would be rebuilt.
An evacuation order for the residents on the road was still in place Monday due to inaccessibility for emergency vehicles, but police and local residents said the order is not actively being enforced.
Several residents off Mill Creek Road have said they resorted to towing wagons of their belongings, or bags of garbage on trash pickup days, up the hill on Harbor Road where vehicles must stop. They have placards identifying themselves as residents in the windows of their parked cars.
The residents must collect their mail at the post office and worry about deliveries of heating oil as winter approaches.
Mill Creek Road resident Thomas Rubio said the temporary road is going through the back of his property but something needed to be done.
"There’s a woman here with a walker, there’s an elderly gentleman that lives on this road," he said. "They need to get in."
With Janon Fisher
The Village of Head of the Harbor has reached an agreement with the Town of Smithtown and homeowners for an emergency access route to serve seven residences on Mill Creek Road after the road washed out in last month's flood.
Head of the Harbor Mayor Michael Utevsky said the village and town officials came to an agreement to build the access road through an easement on private property from Mill Creek Road to Emmet Drive, which connects to Harbor Road.
Mill Creek Road was the only road accessible to seven homes before it was flooded along the hillside and became inaccessible.
Utevsky said construction could begin Tuesday and is expected to take less than a week.
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"We're finally seeing progress on all fronts," the mayor said Monday, just over a month after floodwaters from the Aug. 18-19 storms broke through a dam and also destroyed a section of Harbor Road connecting to Main Street in Stony Brook Village.
The Town of Smithtown is fronting the $170,000 cost to install the temporary paved road that is expected to be in place for up to a year, town spokeswoman Nicole Garguilo said. The cost includes removing the temporary road once Mill Creek Road is repaired.
The village is expected to reimburse the town for the expenses once emergency disaster funds for the road are approved. Town officials were delivering liability waivers to homeowners to sign Monday to cover the property where the road was being built.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency approved an initial state of emergency, declared by Gov. Kathy Hochul and signed by President Joe Biden, to cover up to 75% of expenses. Hochul has requested an additional major disaster declaration for homeowners and projects including roads, bridges and critical infrastructure.
Smithtown highway crews gathered at the end of Emmet Drive on Monday where they surveyed backyards for the emergency route that would cut through to allow access to Mill Creek Road homes below.
Mill Creek Road itself is privately owned by the Ward Melville Heritage Organization, which has been working separately with an engineering firm to rebuild it permanently in the coming weeks.
Private engineers were surveying the road Monday and the muddy lake bed of Mill Pond where the road would be rebuilt.
An evacuation order for the residents on the road was still in place Monday due to inaccessibility for emergency vehicles, but police and local residents said the order is not actively being enforced.
Several residents off Mill Creek Road have said they resorted to towing wagons of their belongings, or bags of garbage on trash pickup days, up the hill on Harbor Road where vehicles must stop. They have placards identifying themselves as residents in the windows of their parked cars.
The residents must collect their mail at the post office and worry about deliveries of heating oil as winter approaches.
Mill Creek Road resident Thomas Rubio said the temporary road is going through the back of his property but something needed to be done.
"There’s a woman here with a walker, there’s an elderly gentleman that lives on this road," he said. "They need to get in."
With Janon Fisher
John Asbury is a breaking news and general assignment reporter. He has been with Newsday since 2014 and previously worked at The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, California.
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