After recall, 8 light poles to be removed from park in Massapequa

Oyster Bay will remove eight light poles at a park in Massapequa, after a federal agency recalled more than 2,500 poles made by Whitco because of safety concerns.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission issued the recall, known to affect two locations on Long Island: John J. Burns Park in Massapequa and Longwood High School in Middle Island.

Oyster Bay Town hired two engineering firms to check the Whitco poles at Burns Park. The firms could not guarantee the poles were completely safe without significant testing, said Town Supervisor John Venditto.

"The only 100 percent solution is to remove the questionable light poles," Venditto said Thursday. "I wasn't going to go ahead and spend significant amounts of money on tests that were not going to make me comfortable."

Venditto estimated it would cost $400,000 to take down and replace the eight poles. All of Burns Park, except the softball field and nearby areas, reopened Thursday evening. The softball field will reopen without lights at 7 a.m. Saturday. New lights have been ordered and should arrive in four to six weeks, Venditto said.

In Middle Island, Longwood Superintendent Allan Gerstenlauer closed the high school's football stadium, which has four Whitco light poles. The district will bring in an expert to examine the poles early next week, he said.