Educators air concerns over sewage plant next to Riverhead school

Teachers and staff at Phillips Avenue Elementary School in Riverhead are pushing back against plans to build a sewage treatment plant next to the campus, raising concerns over air quality and demanding more research into potential health hazards.

More than 50 faculty members made those concerns for their students and themselves public Tuesday with a demonstration outside the school where some carried signs that read: “WILL OUR KIDS BE SAFE?” and chanting “Save our School!”

“We thrive on bringing our students outside for outdoor learning, recess and physical education,” said Daniel Estrada, a Phillips elementary specialist who has worked at the school for about a decade. “We’re getting questions from parents and we don’t have all the answers.”

In April, Southampton voted to create the new sewer district, a key catalyst, town officials have said, to revitalization in Riverside, the small hamlet along the Peconic River. Officials also said the treatment plant will help reduce nitrogen runoff and improve water quality. Funding for the $44.6 million project is in place through county, state and federal grants.

The plant would be built on industrially zoned town property 500 feet from Phillips' grounds and 900 feet from the school building, according to Southampton planning and development administrator Janice Scherer.

Estrada, his colleagues and parents have questioned the impact of the plant, including whether construction noise could impede  learning and if noxious odors could threaten air quality.

Riverhead Board of Education president Colin Palmer said the town should listen to its residents, including teachers.

“We applaud those making their voices heard today by keeping the issue of healthy revitalization in the forefront of public discussion,” Palmer said Tuesday.

The K-4 elementary school is uniquely situated across jurisdictions. Though technically in Flanders, a hamlet of Southampton Town, the school is part of the Riverhead Central School District. According to state education data, the school enrolls about 578 students, 80% of whom are Hispanic or Latino.

“The question that needs to be asked is if this were put next to an elementary school with a different demographic, would it be permitted?” said Gregory Wallace, president of the Riverhead Central Faculty Association, a teachers union. “We want to be the voice for our students and ensure there’s going to be no adverse effects.”

In an email Tuesday, Scherer said the sewer plant was “fully vetted” as part of an environmental review and the plant will be enclosed in a concrete building with odor control and buffered with landscaping.

The project “is not intended to hurt students, teachers or other staff at Phillips Avenue,” Scherer added. “The goal is to create a healthy, vibrant hamlet, in line with a decade of planning and community objectives for Riverside.”

A 2015 revitalization plan projected that once the treatment plant is built, 2,300 new housing units could be added in the hamlet — half of which could be affordable apartments.

Plans for the sewer district and future development have drawn ire from Riverhead Town officials, who say that intensity of development would overburden their resources. Riverhead Supervisor Tim Hubbard wants Southampton’s sewer district to include the Suffolk County center, courts and jail, which currently connect to Riverhead’s sewer line.

Riverhead recently hired outside counsel for advice on the matter.

Southampton supervisor Maria Moore did not respond to a phone call Tuesday, but previously told Newsday the treatment plant would initially lack capacity to serve those facilities. She has also said Southampton will revise its plan to allow less density, and that the town didn’t want to “overwhelm” Riverside with new development.

Scherer said Tuesday the town plans to host design workshops with the school district and community to address lingering concerns.