TOBAY Notebook: Final Week of Summer Concert Series Set

The Town of Oyster Bay’s “Music Under the Stars” concert series will host its fifth and final week of performances beginning Monday, Aug 1. According to Supervisor John Venditto, the fifth week’s performances include Simply Diamond, The New York Tenors, Body Heat, The Hit Men and American Idol Stars in Concert.

Simply Diamond, a Neil Diamond tribute act, will kick off the week’s performance at Ellsworth W. Allen Town Park, Motor Avenue in Farmingdale, on Monday, Aug. 1, at 8 p.m.

The New York Tenors will be performing at John J. Burns Town Park, Merrick Road in Massapequa, on Tuesday, Aug. 2 at 8 p.m.

Body Heat will be performing at Syosset-Woodbury Community Park, Jericho Turnpike in Woodbury, on Wednesday, Aug. 3, at 8 p.m.

The Hit Men will be performing at Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Park and Beach, Larabee Avenue in Oyster Bay on Friday, Aug. 5, at 8 p.m.

The American Idol Stars In Concert will be performing for the final show of summer 2011 at John J. Burns Town Park, Merrick Road in Massapequa, on Saturday, Aug. 6, at 8 p.m.

Residents are encouraged to bring a lawn chair or blanket to performances. 

Upcoming Waste Disposal Dates

The fifth of eight 2011 Household Hazardous Waste Disposal (S.T.O.P.-Stop Throwing Out Pollutants) and Electronic Waste Collection days for Oyster Bay Town residents is scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 6.

The collection day, which is open only to Town of Oyster Bay residents, will be held at the Hicksville Fire Department, West John Street, between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. The S.T.O.P. program provides residents with an environmentally safe means for disposal of household hazardous waste and is now in its 26th year. This is the eighth year for the Electronic Waste Collection program.

"Oyster Bay was the first Town on Long Island to have a regularly scheduled e-waste program, which was kicked off in April 2004," said Town Councilman Joe Muscarella. "Last year, the Town conducted two Drug Collection programs, and their success led to the Town to offer four Drug Collection days this year.”

The next S.T.O.P./Electronic Waste Collection dates for 2011 are: Saturday, Sept. 10, Solid Waste Disposal Complex, Bethpage-Sweet Hollow Road, Old Bethpage; Saturday, Oct. 1, Town Hall South, 977 Hicksville Road, Massapequa; and Sunday, Nov. 6, Town of Oyster Bay Department of Public Works Garage, 150 Miller Place, Syosset. Sept. 10 and Oct. 1 are also Drug Collection days.

Zoning Change

The Oyster Bay Town Board will consider a zoning change next month for a portion of an old Superfund site that will be used to expand a Farmingdale Park.

The town recently took title to a 7.5-acre parcel located at 55 Motor Ave., Farmingdale, part of the old Liberty Industrial Finishing Site, next to Ellsworth W. Allen Town Park. It is currently zoned Light Industrial. The change would be to Recreation District.

The site has been controversial for decades. In 1940, Liberty Aircraft Products Company occupied the site, producing aircraft parts and metal finishing work during World War II and the Korean War. After the wars, the site was converted to an industrial park and, later, to light industrial and warehouse uses, according to the report on the site issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Liberty and other companies left behind a toxic legacy: a groundwater plume contaminated with organic and inorganic substances lies beneath the 30-acre industrial area and extends about a mile to the south, according to the EPA. Portions of the Massapequa Preserve, a nature preserve located about one-half mile to the south, are also contaminated from the old plant, according to the EPA.

The property was deemed a federal "Superfund" site, a designation that provides federal money to clean-up or contain the contaminated area and prevent it's further spread. Two decades ago the area was designated a national priority for the EPA, which assumed the role of lead agency in documenting the extent of the contamination and determining the best remediation plan.

The hearing will be held at 10 a.m. July 26 in the hearing room of Town Hall North, 54 Audrey Ave., Oyster Bay.