To the Editor:\u00a0<\/p>\n
Pelham Manor\u2019s Shore Park could accommodate very large playing fields. The property is\u00a0 approximately eight acres (a football field is just over one acre). The problem is that the park is a\u00a0garbage dump. And being a garbage dump the surface is unstable.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Over the past several decades, there have been some youth soccer\u00a0and little league sports played on the surface of the great mound.\u00a0\u00a0But such use of the park was soon abandoned.\u00a0When the dump was closed, probably in the late 1960s or early \u201870s, 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\u00a0Manor. <\/p>\n
In 1974 Richard Blessing, Village manager, invited the\u00a0elected officials from the other two villages, (the Heights and North\u00a0\u00a0Pelham) to inspect the site. I was one of those officials who\u00a0\u00a0gathered at Shore Park. Nothing ever came out of it, but we\u00a0understood that the Manor wanted the other two villages to\u00a0contribute to the substantial improvement of the property for the\u00a0benefit of the entire town. The effort did not move forward.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Whether the Manor approached the town or Board of Education for the same purpose, I don\u2019t know.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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\u00a0use of the property for a town pool to the voters of Pelham Manor.\u00a0The referendum was held on September 30, 1975. The Manor\u00a0voters voted about 700 to 1,100 against such use.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Then at a meeting on October 6, 1975, the Manor Board decided\u00a0to go ahead with an alternative.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cThe Village Board is now working on improving the property\u00a0into an attractive park, playing field and family picnic area.\u201d The result is Shore Park as it is today.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But that was then. Now the huge pile of garbage has had 50 years to settle, percolate and ferment and stabilize. Many\u00a0municipalities have reclaimed former garbage dumps\u00a0for recreation and park use. Pelham has a dearth of playing fields.\u00a0<\/p>\n
So, the issues are:\u00a0 can the property be reclaimed for playing fields, and if so, at what cost?<\/p>\n
It is fairly well established that Pelham Manor alone should not,\u00a0\u00a0cannot and will not devote substantial sums for town playing fields.\u00a0That should be undertaken by the town or Board of Education if\u00a0feasible. It should not be overlooked that federal, state and county grants are well known in the environmental area.\u00a0Perhaps a little over one acre can be reclaimed economically.\u00a0That would be a playing field the size of a football field, complete with end zones.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Michael R. Treanor<\/p>\n
622 Pelhamdale Avenue<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
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