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Village of Port Jefferson

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Port Jefferson School District students with violinist Caroline Campbell (center), Port Jefferson orchestra teacher Vanessa Salzman (left) and Paul Newland, outreach director at Stony Brook University (right). Photo courtesy PJSD

In a partnership with Stony Brook University’s Staller Center for the Arts, Port Jefferson music students experienced a nearly sold-out performance by renowned violinist Caroline Campbell.

Accompanied by Port Jefferson orchestra teacher Vanessa Salzman, the close-to-home musical collaboration engages students with innovative performances, as this concert highlighted. “She is quite a violin superstar, so this was a very special event for us,” Salzman said. 

Campbell, along with pianist Carlos Avila, was an engaging presence on stage and had the audience enthralled with her spectacular performance of virtuoso violin showpieces, from Hollywood film melodies to the music of Sting.

Port Jefferson orchestra students and their families are invited to attend concerts each year at the university, arranged by Salzman and Paul Newland, outreach director at Stony Brook University. Tickets are provided courtesy of Staller Center Outreach Endowment.

“We are extremely grateful to Mr. Newland and the director of The Staller Center, Mr. Alan Inkles, for providing our student musicians this incredible opportunity,” Salzman said, adding, “We were most appreciative of the time [Campbell] took following the performance to interact with our students and share inspiration to continue pursuing their musical journeys.”

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Photo courtesy Kevin Wood

The Port Jefferson Business Improvement District held a tree-lighting ceremony on Thursday, Dec. 1.

The tree was purchased by the Business Improvement District with the full support of the village government, according to Deputy Mayor Kathianne Snaden. Santa Claus lit the tree during the event after a countdown from those in attendance. 

The night was festive with a snowmaker, hot chocolate from Starbucks, and candy canes from Roger’s Frigate. Those involved in the planning and lighting of the tree expressed enthusiasm for adding this new holiday staple to Port Jefferson.

Photo courtesy Kevin Wood

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Pixabay photo

Here on Long Island, local governments have been historically responsible for treating and disposing of solid waste. This dynamic is no longer workable.

Managing waste is among the most crucial functions of government. Without these services, untreated garbage would threaten the health and safety of our residents and endanger our local environment. 

However, treating solid waste entails ever-increasing costs to dispose of the trash and keep up with the fast-paced regulatory climate. Those costs will only compound in the years to come. 

In Port Jefferson, the village government is engaged in a messy permit dispute with the New York Department of Environmental Conservation over a small landfill it uses for branch and leaf pickup services. New DEC regulations targeting landfills have impacted Port Jeff’s kettle hole, entangling this small village in a much broader regulatory conflict. 

The controversy may be affecting Port Jeff right now, but it will soon involve nearly every community on Long Island. Plans are underway to close the Brookhaven Town Landfill by 2024, which serves the entire region, precipitating a garbage crisis here on Long Island.

From these examples we are learning that solid waste treatment is not merely a local policy concern. It is integrated within a much larger context, affecting neighboring communities, regions and states. 

Solid waste landfills, where much of our garbage is stored, are also significant emitters of greenhouse gases. These facilities may soon be prime targets for oversight and regulation under plans to curb the effects of climate change. 

At TBR News Media, we are committed to the premise that local government is closest and, therefore, most accountable to the people. Local control gives residents a stake in what goes on within their community’s boundaries. But garbage is blind to these political distinctions and its hazardous effects often cross over these lines, impacting our neighbors. The problem is too grand for any one municipality to handle on its own.

Effective waste management is an increasingly regional, national and even global phenomenon. The situation calls for a coordinated and efficient response from these higher tiers of government. 

Sustaining local control over waste management will soon come with a crippling price tag for municipalities and taxpayers alike. State and federal regulators will place heavy restrictions on the operators of solid waste landfills — local governments — passing the burden of cost and regulatory compliance onto these smaller governments.

Over time, municipalities will have to devote more resources and staff to their garbage, eating away at their budgets and diverting vital funds from other local programs and constituent services. All of this runs counter to the original idea of local autonomy.

Now is the right time for local governments to evaluate their involvement in waste management. Municipalities should seriously consider transitioning these duties to higher levels of government — such as counties or the state — with oversight from regional planning councils composed of delegates from our communities. 

A consolidated waste management apparatus could be more efficient and less restrictive for small governments, freeing up money and attention for local matters within their control.

At the individual level, we must also take steps to limit our impact on landfills. On Long Island, we don’t even have reliable measures of recycling rates, let alone a plan to bring those levels up. Furthermore, many ordinary household items have the potential for reuse. Residents should take advantage of special recycling events that assign these items a reuse value.

While policymakers work out the nuances of an integrated waste management hierarchy, we can do our part to limit our contribution to solid waste landfills. These complex problems may find meaningful solutions if governments and citizens act responsibly.

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Pixabay photo

The Village of Port Jefferson is in a complicated permit dispute with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation over its solid waste landfill at Harbor Hills.

The Port Jefferson Village Clean Solid Waste Landfill, a 1.9-acre kettle hole located on the Port Jefferson Country Club property, has been historically operated to facilitate branch and leaf removal services in the village. In 2017, the small landfill was impacted by changes in state regulations, throwing the future of these services into question.

In an exclusive interview, Mayor Margot Garant summarized the nature of the permit dispute between the village and DEC. For decades, the government has renewed its DEC permit every five years to continue operating the landfill. With its permit set to expire on Dec. 11, the village reapplied but met unforeseen resistance.

“Unbeknownst to us in 2017, there were changes in some of the regulations concerning landfills throughout New York state, and they became much more strict,” Garant said. “We got a letter that we weren’t meeting the needs of the new statutory regulations for landfills.” She added, “They basically had classified our little kettle hole to be regulated like a landfill equivalent to the Town of Brookhaven [landfill].”

Garant referred to the pre-2017 regulations as manageable for the village, requiring breakdown and transport of the debris, among other workable conditions. The new rules, however, will “be impossible for us to comply with,” the mayor said.

An unusual landfill 

David Tonjes is a research associate professor at Stony Brook University’s Department of Technology and Society. His research focuses on solid waste management and the environmental impacts of landfills.

While the Port Jefferson site is officially listed as a landfill regulated under the Long Island Landfill Law, Tonjes described it as distinct from other landfills throughout the area.

“It’s unusual because it doesn’t have a liner system, which is required for all landfills on Long Island,” he said. “As far as I know, it doesn’t have any landfilling functions, which is to take things in, cover them up, and manage the gas and leachate [that are] generated when you do that sort of thing.”

Garant agreed that the landfill does not fit neatly into a conventional classification category, given its prior use. Consequently, the village government is considering entering into negotiations with DEC to reclassify the landfill as a transfer station.

Garant said a change of classification could enable the village to continue using the site. “We realized we were managing this more like a transfer station than we were a landfill, and that’s going to be our approach with the DEC,” the mayor said. “As a transfer station, it means that [branches and leaves] are held here on a temporary basis, broken down and relocated, just like we were doing.”

She added, “If we have to abandon the kettle hole, we then have to put a barrier down, backfill it with clean fill, bring up the grade, and that’s going to cost us approximately $500,000 to do that, to abandon it.”

Tonjes said the Port Jeff landfill seems to fit some of the conditions for a transfer station. However, he noted that DEC guidelines for transfer stations are generally restrictive.

“Typically, a transfer station is a site where waste comes in and is kept under a roof for a period of time, and then it’s moved out to either a reuse point or disposal point,” he said. Depending on the materials stored, that temporary window of time could be as small as 24 hours.

An uncertain future

‘It calls for a degree of technical oversight and awareness that may be too expensive for the village to do.’

— David Tonjes

Conflicts with DEC over the long-term storage of branches and brush are not unique to Port Jefferson. Tonjes said several towns along the East End had met stiff opposition from DEC due to accumulations of storm debris. 

Such materials, if processed promptly, could have been reused. “When they grind it up, they end up with a pile of wood chips that no one really wants,” the associate professor said. “They’re really low-value material, they end up with stuff that should have been reused.”

Tonjes suggests Port Jeff is entangled within a broader conflict within New York state over the reuse of organic waste. By cracking down on the long-term storage of organic waste, DEC aims to reuse these materials before their reuse value diminishes.

While municipalities have historically been responsible for waste disposal functions, this may soon change. Given the ballooning costs associated with managing solid waste, Tonjes suggests these may soon be too burdensome for a small municipality such as the village.

“With the village being such a small entity and trying to run its own — in a sense — disposal facility, it calls for a degree of technical oversight and awareness that may be too expensive for the village to do,” he said.

Further complicating matters is the state’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act. This 2019 law mandates New York to reduce economywide greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent by 2030 and no less than 85 percent by 2050 from 1990 levels. 

Enforcing these standards, Tonjes said, would require the complete overhaul of the state’s waste management apparatus.

Under this law, “all government actions have to comply with the notion of minimizing greenhouse gas emissions,” he said. “Almost all solid waste activities involve greenhouse gas emissions, so it’s clear that solid waste management will have to change dramatically to account for this new law.”

Meanwhile, Garant admitted that the changes in state law blindsided the village. For her, the permit controversy with DEC offers a window into the challenges small municipalities encounter when interfacing with higher levels of government.

“When large government makes change to a section of the code, they really don’t know the trickle-down impacts that they are making,” she said. “Wanting to be in full compliance, making an application six months ahead of time, now I’m in a situation where I’m in the middle of branch and leaf pickup, and I’m going to have a permit expiring.”

Tonjes said conversations surrounding solid waste management are only getting started. He suggests that finding a workable solution to these complex problems requires significant coordination between all levels of government.

“The future is going to get very interesting in terms of regulating how the state manages its garbage,” he said.

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Photo courtesy John Proios

Prepared by John Proios

William “Bill” Proios died peacefully at age 71 from cancer at Good Shepherd Hospice Center in Port Jefferson on Friday, Nov. 11. 

Bill spent his final days surrounded by family and friends. Born in Detroit, Michigan, July 16, 1951, to Panayiotis and Angeline Proios, he lived most of his life in Port Jefferson. He won the high school’s first New York State wrestling championship in 1969 during his senior year. He was also president of his senior class. 

While studying at Stony Brook University, where he received a bachelor’s degree in American history, he co-authored the book “Port Jefferson: Story of a Village.” 

Bill was a good friend, a kind and wonderful husband, father, grandfather, son-in-law, brother-in-law and uncle. He was a loving man who shared his faith in God and his love of life with all who encountered him. 

He will be remembered by the many stories he shared about his travels across the United States and Europe, and his work as a painting contractor in New York. He will be missed by all who knew him. 

Bill is survived by his wife, Nancy Macnab Proios, son John, his wife Kelly, son Alex, and three grandsons, Ira, Bill and Muhammad. 

May the Good Lord carry his soul forever, and may he rest in peace.

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Photo by Heidi Sutton

SPREADING JOY

We think it’s safe to say that Scrooge doesn’t live here! This house on the corner of Barnum Avenue and Oakes Street in the Village of Port Jefferson definately makes the Nice List as it spreads holiday cheer to all who pass it with a 15-foot tall Rudolph, Frosty and even Santa Claus (hiding behind Frosty) with giant ornaments hanging over the porch. See it for yourself this Sunday before the Santa Parade heads down Main Street at 3 p.m. with the real Santa Claus! Photo by Heidi Sutton

Send your Photo of the Week to [email protected]

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Above, Celebrated local artist Louise Brett, left, and Theresa Emery, right, are pictured on the bridge that crosses over the LIRR tracks at Sheep Pasture Road, February 1948. Note the sign for McDonald turkeys. Photo courtesy Kenneth C. Brady Digital Archive

McDonald Farms, once the largest turkey breeding farm in New York state, was located south of Sheep Pasture Road and the LIRR tracks in Port Jefferson Station.

Established in 1939 by the William P. McDonald Construction Company, the farm was tucked away in the woods nearby McDonald’s sand mine on Sheep Pasture Road.

In 1944, Ledkote Products Company, the corporate predecessor of now-shuttered Lawrence Aviation, purchased McDonald Farms and continued raising turkeys on the property.

Retaining the name McDonald Farms, the business flourished after World War II, creating a demand for poultrymen who were offered $30 per week and lodging as compensation.

In 1947, the farm had 5,000 breeders and raised over 20,000 Broad Breasted Bronze and White Holland turkeys, advertised as the “undisputed monarchs of the entire turkey kingdom.” 

Above a Thanksgiving postcard. Photo courtesy Kenneth C. Brady Digital Archive

The business boasted everything necessary to ready birds for the market, including incubators, nurseries, floor brooders, houses for the hens and toms, ranges planted in clover and dressing rooms.

A leader in the poultry trade, McDonald Farms hosted the regional Northeastern Turkey Growers Convention in July 1947. The two-day event featured a tour of the farm, a banquet at Teddy’s Hotel and Restaurant at the intersection of Main and East Broadway in Port Jefferson, and agricultural programs at Port Jefferson High School.

McDonald Farms generously donated turkeys to needy individuals and charitable organizations, not only on Thanksgiving but throughout the year. 

The business also welcomed field trips from students in all age groups, reaching youngsters in the lower grades as well as upperclassmen in John E. Berney’s vocational agriculture class at the high school.

A roaring fire destroyed a four-story feed hopper at McDonald Farms in April 1955, but fortunately no fatalities or serious injuries resulted from the blaze.

Beginning in 1959, Lawrence Aviation began manufacturing titanium sheeting at what was formerly the McDonald Farms property, marking the site’s transformation from agricultural to industrial use.

Kenneth Brady has served as the Port Jefferson Village historian and president of the Port Jefferson Conservancy, as well as on the boards of the Suffolk County Historical Society, Greater Port Jefferson Arts Council and Port Jefferson Historical Society. He is a longtime resident of the village.

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Port Jefferson Middle School principal Brian Walker and student council adviser Megan Roth-Ueno with student council members. Photo courtesy PJSD

Port Jefferson Middle School hosted a festive Thanksgiving luncheon for local senior citizens on Wednesday, Nov. 16. 

With turkey sandwiches stuffed with cranberries and all the trimmings, bottled waters and some tasty apple pies for dessert, the residents – including one woman who graduated from Port Jefferson High School in 1950 – enjoyed this long-time tradition. 

Middle school student-musicians performed seasonal selections under Vanessa Salzman’s leadership. Several students read poetry and greeted the guests, along with student council adviser Megan Roth-Ueno and principal Brian Walker.

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Coastal erosion endangers the Village of Port Jefferson's property atop the East Beach bluff. Formerly the place of wedding receptions, the gazebo pictured above was obliterated by the most recent landslide last year. File photo by Raymond Janis

The Village of Port Jefferson Board of Trustees met on Monday, Nov. 21, for a business meeting covering a range of pressing public business.

Mayor Margot Garant presented the cost estimates for the proposed upper wall to fortify the East Beach bluff, presenting figures ranging from $3.32 million to $4.52 million depending on the scope of the projects, such as add-ons to accommodate racket sports amenities. [See story, “Port Jeff … trustees debate erosion mitigation strategy at village country club.]

After presenting these cost estimates, Garant recommended that the board reject these bids. “I don’t think we should take any action on the upper wall, the steel wall, at this point,” she said. 

The plans for the upper wall were delayed for a variety of factors, according to Garant. In a text message, she maintained that the delay was not a change of posture but rather a change in the timeline for final approval, given the weather and the pending completion of the lower wall. 

“My position hasn’t changed,” she said. “Something has to be done, but the timeline for the lower wall to be completed, with the upland restoration and plantings not occurring now to the spring, is pushing this from being done within the next six to eight months, so we cannot approve the bid.”

The board also debated an ongoing permit dispute between the village and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation regarding the Port Jefferson Village Clean Solid Waste Landfill. This kettle hole, which facilitates branch and leaf pickup services within the village, was affected by changes to state regulations in 2017.

The purpose of the deliberations was to decide whether to enable P.W. Grosser Consulting, a Bohemia-based environmental firm, to negotiate with the DEC to work out a permit agreement.

“We would like to get our permit back to what the state regs were prior to them changing them, which means we can put branches and leaves in there,” Garant said. “The challenge has become Mother Nature, really, with the large trees.” 

The mayor added, “Branch pickup, honestly, I don’t know if it’s sustainable for us in this community.”

With a looming Dec. 11 deadline, the future of the landfill and branch pickup in PJV hangs in the balance. After some debate, the board agreed to table the matter for a later meeting.

In her report, Deputy Mayor Kathianne Snaden detailed the results of a recent survey conducted to determine the name of Station Street, a one-way corridor opening in Upper Port. Out of 134 submissions, “Station Street” was the highest vote-getter.

Trustee Rebecca Kassay reported on an event she has been coordinating with other sponsors called Walk Safe with a Doc. The event will be held sometime this spring to  promote the physical benefits of walking and the importance of pedestrian safety.

Trustee Lauren Sheprow reported two upcoming meetings, one with the Country Club Social/Hospitality Task Force and the other with the newly reestablished Parks and Recreation Advisory Council. The PRAC will assign roles and designate committee chairs at its next meeting.

The board of trustees will reconvene Monday, Dec. 12, at 5 p.m., the same day as the upcoming bond vote in Port Jefferson School District.

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Above, the Port Jefferson Royals girls volleyball team. Photo courtesy PJSD

The Port Jefferson Royals girls volleyball team defeated John S. Burke Catholic 3-0 to take home the regional championship on Saturday, Nov. 12. 

The contest took place at James I. O’Neill High School in West Point, New York. The Royals now advance to the NYSPHSAA championships. 

There are four teams competing in pool play on Nov. 19, with the top two teams advancing to the championship contest on Nov. 20. Port Jefferson will compete against Galway, Lansing and Portville.

“The team plays with energy and confidence, regardless of what is happening on the court,” athletic director Adam Sherrard said. “Their strong senior leadership has helped propel the Royals to their best season in the school’s history. I am extremely proud of their success so far this season, and am looking forward to their performance in the championship tournament this weekend.”

The district congratulates team members Alexa Ayotte, Caroline Hayde, Erin Henry, Maggie Johnston, Anna Matvya, Maddy Matvya, Bianca Nakagawa, Mia O’Connell, Hannah Pflaster, McKayla Pollard, Ava Reilly, Chloe Sherman, Olivia Sherman, Lexi Verruto, Sophia Wennerod and Gretchen Zimmerman, head coach CJ Hafner and assistant coach Matt Dolan.

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