Greenport approves resolutions that affects North Ferry terminal

The Greenport Village Board of Trustees pushed through three new resolutions to speed up the long-stalled repair of the Mitchell Park bulkhead and railroad dock at its regular meeting on Thursday, Sept. 25.

The first resolution relocates the electrical box, which provides service to the railroad dock, next to the transformer on the southeast corner of the museum on Third Street. If the panel fails, the North Ferry terminal could be without power. The second resolution forces the village to seek engineering designs and ready an application to the United States Department of Environmental Conservation for an emergency renewal permit for the bulkhead area between the North Ferry and railroad dock, and the area behind the museum. 

Trustee Mary Bess Phillips, who has been sounding the alarm about the run-down bulkhead for nearly a decade, once again led the charge to immediately begin the work after the project received a $3 million grant last year.

The last initiative pushes for Mayor Kevin Stuessi, as well as the village grant writer and the village’s consultants, to secure the required paperwork in order to access the grant money.

“I cannot, in good conscience, not say something where we could possibly lose that amount of money to repair a very important village asset,” Ms. Phillips said.

Fellow Trustee Julia Robins said she went down to the area last Sunday and found the condition of the bulkhead “really scary.”

“After much work on the waterfront with the restoration and repair of our historic carousel, the new north ferry queue, LIRR and Jitney parking lot and storm water infrastructure, the village is committed to advancing needed repairs to the bulkhead in Mitchell Park and by the north ferry landing,” Mr. Stuessi said in an email Saturday. “We are completing review of specifications and look forward to pricing work expeditiously.”

Deputy Mayor Patrick Brennan also voted in favor of the resolutions despite Mr. Stuessi’s absence.

“I’m concerned that this feels a little bit like a maneuver to run around a project that the mayor was managing,” he said. “I agree that it has to be done immediately. It’s in terrible condition. It looks like it could fall over at any moment.” 

The bulkhead, built in the 1990s, is at the end of its projected 20-year lifespan, according to a 2018 report reviewed by the previous board. 

Congressman Nick LaLota (R-Amityville) helped secure the grant last year to repair the Mitchell Park bulkhead.

“Ultimately, we as a whole group, including the mayor, are ultimately responsible, and I think it is a project we all want to see done,”  Trustee Lily Dougherty-Johnson said.

Ms. Phillips, who was a member of the board in 2018 when the report was issued, agreed there is no more time for delays.

“I strongly believe that we as a board need to protect our assets, and I hope this moves along quickly,” she said.