Nassau to absorb Lido Beach area known as 'Sewer No Man's Land'

On our last visit to the area of Lido Beach known as Sewer No Man's Land

In late August, the Oborne-Nilon family was back in their home after damage inflicted by superstorm Sandy had been repaired. But plumbing problems continued even after they replaced the damaged sewer pipe to the curb. That's because the sewer pipe under their street had been damaged, too.

They presumed the pipe was a piece of public infrastructure that would be repaired by a public entity. They were wrong.

Wendy Oborne and Patrick Nilon wound up paying a private contractor $4,500 to open up Blackheath Road and replace the pipe after Hempstead Town, Nassau County and the City of Long Beach each told them the same thing: The pipe isn't ours. Days later the county said it was working with Long Beach "to determine how to resolve this issue for the homeowner as quickly as possible."

Two months later, that resolution appears to be getting near: Steps are being taken to spare homeowners in No Man's Land such responsibility, and expense, in the future.

County Executive Edward Mangano "has directed the Department of Public Works to absorb this area of Lido Beach into Nassau's countywide collection and disposal district," department spokesman Michael Martino said in an email last week.

Once that process is complete -- the measure will require approval by the Nassau County Legislature -- owners of the 216 properties in western Lido Beach can stop worrying about getting stuck with such bills.

Sewer pipes there are connected to the Long Beach treatment plant and residents pay the city a fee for sewage collection. Under the plan, "payments to Long Beach from homeowners would be discontinued," Martino said, and residents would instead be billed by the county, which in turn would pay Long Beach for the sewage disposal.

He said no fee increase would be necessary to cover maintenance and repairs.

How the area wound up excluded from a sewage collection district remains a puzzle: It's wedged between the Lido Beach sewer district to the east and Long Beach to the west. Though sewage winds up at the Long Beach treatment plant, a section of City Code requires these homeowners to maintain and repair sewer mains at their expense.

We sought out former public officials and longtime residents, hoping they might know the area's history. Two former officials returned our calls. Arthur J. Kremer, a former assemblyman, said he was a city attorney in Long Beach in the 1960s. "I remember there was always this No Man's Land. But the city didn't want to extend the [sewer district] lines and the Lido Beach district didn't cover it," he said. "But nobody ever did anything."

Bruce Nyman, a former Long Beach supervisor and city manager, said he recalled a plan that would have added the area to the Long Beach sewer district. "Lots of development took place after the Lido Beach district" was drawn, he said, but even as houses were built the district did not expand to include them.

It's not apparent, at least to us, how homeowners would know they were responsible for such sewer pipes. Oborne said their property deed contained no indication.

History aside, she remains hopeful of recouping the expense. The county has sent the household a claim form, which will be submitted "to the claims examiner hired by the County to handle Sandy claims," Martino said.

There's reason to take heart: At least the process has begun.

As the anniversary of superstorm Sandy approached, many Long Islanders continued to wait for problems left in the storm's wake to be addressed. Barbara Lambert asked if perhaps hers had been forgotten.

"I started calling the town on November 19 of last year," Lambert said of her requests to get a tree stump removed from her Port Jefferson Station yard.

Brookhaven Town sawed up the fallen tree shortly after the storm and removed everything but the uprooted stump. "I've called five or six times to see if they're still going to remove it," she said. "Maybe they are, but it's been a long time."

She had begun to wonder if the town expected the couple to do the work themselves. "If I could, I would pull it out," Lambert said, pointing out that she's 77 and her husband, Will, is 81. "I really hate to complain about anything."

She passed along the work order number the town had given her, and we asked the town if it was possible the Lamberts had been forgotten.

Two days later, Barbara Lambert told us a town Highway Department crew had arrived early that morning and, in short order, the stump was gone, the hole in the ground was filled with dirt and grass seed spread over the area.

Six days before the storm's anniversary.