Northport's Cow Harbor Park basketball court plan gets DEC clearance

A state agency’s ruling that no further cleanup is needed at Cow Harbor Park in Northport Village clears the way for officials to move forward with the planned expansion of a basketball court built atop a former LILCO site.

The state Department of Environmental Conservation in a Jan. 17 letter to the Town of Huntington said it reviewed information about cleanup at the Woodbine Avenue park and found “no further remedial activities are necessary.” 

Village trustee Ernest Pucillo said he's relieved the park and the grounds are safe.

“It could have been a dangerous situation,” he said. “We saved a lot of money in any possible remediation.”

The village leases the park from the town. 

In October, Pucillo contacted the DEC after a resident told him that a 2022 water level test by the village revealed a chemical odor under the basketball court. Pucillo said while there was a resolution to conduct the test, he was never notified the results were available.

The DEC in November ordered another test of soil and groundwater where the odor was found.

Mayor Donna Koch also said, “It just confirms what I always believed what our engineers told us that there was no reason to worry.”

Northport resident Kevin Kavanaugh has been an outspoken opponent of expanding the basketball court.

“It would be remarkable if there isn’t anything under that old power plant," Kavanaugh said.

Koch said plans to expand the court from its current 53 feet by 40 feet to 66 feet by 50 feet are moving ahead. She said the renovation of the court will be completed in two phases.

The first phase will demolish the court and surrounding fencing and then replace them. The village has $140,356 on hand for the project from a state grant and public donations.

Phase two involves landscaping and masonry improvements. Koch said she hopes the Town of Huntington’s Environmental Open Space & Park Fund Advisory Committee will provide funding for that work.

She said she expects to put the project out to bid this spring.