Miller Place pond to get drainage and surrounding road repairs

Miller Place Duck Pond may soon see drainage improvements Brookhaven town hopes will reduce sediment flow into the small, water lily-filled pond right outside North Country Road Middle School.

The town board unanimously agreed to shift money around in the capital budget to make room for the pond drainage improvements, allocating $135,285 for the project. At the same time, the highway department is planning to use $2.6 million in total from grants and town funds to complete road and sidewalk repair in tandem with the drainage renovations.

“The new improvements should reduce the amount of sediment from the road, sanding and salting that washes into the pond,” said town Councilwoman Jane Bonner (R-Rocky Point). “It should reduce pollutants associated with road runoff.”

Last year, TBR News Media reported both local environmental activists and town waterways management said there were problems with invasive and destructive plant species in the pond. The town applied for a grant from the Suffolk County Water Quality Protection and Restoration Program as well as the Stewardship Initiative. The grant would have had a projected cost of $240,000 with a $120,000 town match; however, Bonner said the town failed to get the grant.

Anthony Graves, Brookhaven’s chief environmental analyst, said they have not witnessed, just from viewing the water’s surface, that the pond is as dense with destructive plants as the previous year. Though he added the problem could be because of high rainfall this year compared to previous years, meaning it’s hard to gauge the plant density on the bottom of the pond. A big part of the reason for those invasive plants was the wash of sediment into the pond’s bottom from the road. 

Involved in this new drainage includes a “stormceptor unit,” a device placed in the ground used to intercept pollutants and sediments before they enter the pond. Such pollutants include oil and grease from passing cars. Graves added the town is trying to reduce nitrogen buildup in the roadside pond. 

In addition to renovating drainage of the pond, the town is expecting to go in and dredge the bottom of the pond. 

“The drainage improvements collect the sediment before it enters the pond,” Graves said.

Meanwhile, the town’s highway department has set up to work in tandem and with those drainage improvements, both in renovating the sidewalks around the pond and completing road resurfacing. North Country Road is a Suffolk County-owned road that is managed by the town. 

Superintendent of Highways Dan Losquadro (R) said his department received close to $1.25 million from grants, though the town is supplying the rest of its total $2.6 million cost. The project will include resurfacing and restriping of the road in addition to renovated sidewalks.

Losquadro said the town has had to deal with other problems in and around the pond, such that a blocked pipe was restricting enough water from entering the pond toward the southern end.

One of the biggest components of road resurfacing is drainage — getting that water off of the roadway,” he said. “So, as we’re doing this project, we want it to last as long as possible.”

Renovations to the drainage should begin sometime in August, Bonner said, while the highway superintendent said they plan to do some sidewalk work in tandem. The rest of the roadwork will start after the new drainage is installed. While they intend to finish before classes start, he added they would have to finish that work during one of the early school recesses if they can’t finish before.