To the Editor: 

Pelham Manor’s Shore Park could accommodate very large playing fields. The property is  approximately eight acres (a football field is just over one acre). The problem is that the park is a garbage dump. And being a garbage dump the surface is unstable. 

Over the past several decades, there have been some youth soccer and little league sports played on the surface of the great mound.  But such use of the park was soon abandoned. When the dump was closed, probably in the late 1960s or early ‘70s, the owner of the property, the Village of Pelham Manor, had to decide what to do with the former landfill. I believe the first proposed idea was briefly and very tentatively advanced by Pelham Manor.

In 1974 Richard Blessing, Village manager, invited the elected officials from the other two villages, (the Heights and North  Pelham) to inspect the site. I was one of those officials who  gathered at Shore Park. Nothing ever came out of it, but we understood that the Manor wanted the other two villages to contribute to the substantial improvement of the property for the benefit of the entire town. The effort did not move forward.  

Whether the Manor approached the town or Board of Education for the same purpose, I don’t know. 

Another proposal was for a town swimming pool. About 50 years ago, the Manor Board went so far as to put the issue of town use of the property for a town pool to the voters of Pelham Manor. The referendum was held on September 30, 1975. The Manor voters voted about 700 to 1,100 against such use. 

Then at a meeting on October 6, 1975, the Manor Board decided to go ahead with an alternative.  “The Village Board is now working on improving the property into an attractive park, playing field and family picnic area.” The result is Shore Park as it is today. 

But that was then. Now the huge pile of garbage has had 50 years to settle, percolate and ferment and stabilize. Many municipalities have reclaimed former garbage dumps for recreation and park use. Pelham has a dearth of playing fields. 

So, the issues are:  can the property be reclaimed for playing fields, and if so, at what cost?

It is fairly well established that Pelham Manor alone should not,  cannot and will not devote substantial sums for town playing fields. That should be undertaken by the town or Board of Education if feasible. It should not be overlooked that federal, state and county grants are well known in the environmental area. Perhaps a little over one acre can be reclaimed economically. That would be a playing field the size of a football field, complete with end zones. 

Michael R. Treanor

622 Pelhamdale Avenue