Cutting through red tape on overgrown property
Nancy Metz of Oyster Bay wants a clear view of Mill Pond
Newsday Photo by Gwen Young
There’s a beautiful pond near my house in Oyster Bay. The owner of a local business has offered to prune there, but a letter of permission is needed to work on the property. I can’t establish who has jurisdiction and neither can the people at Oyster Bay Town Hall. You can’t see the pond because it’s overgrown with vines. I’ve had the runaround for six months to a year.
-- Nancy Metz, Oyster Bay
It’s no wonder Metz got the runaround. It took town spokesman Jim Moriarty, a government veteran, many frustrating phone calls over a couple of weeks to determine that U.S. Fish and Wildlife has jurisdiction over Mill Pond.
The agency is responsible for keeping the area as a wildlife refuge, which doesn't entail beautification.
Since the park area is small patch of land, with no public parking, only one park bench and is accessible primarily to area residents, the town most likely will spruce it up if given permission by the federal agency, Moriarty said.
He’s arranged a meeting tomorrow at the site with Metz, a town parks department worker and someone from Fish and Wildlife to determine what can be done to improve the area.
