Northport seeks alternative funds for sewage plant retaining wall after FEMA denial

Hours before superstorm Sandy's worst winds hit Long Island two Octobers ago, Northport Village workers scrambled to build a plywood retaining wall to keep the sewage treatment plant from flooding.

The work saved Northport Harbor from being flooded with raw sewage, but village officials have learned the actions may have cost them federal funding for a permanent fix.

Mayor George Doll and trustee Damon McMullen said Federal Emergency Management Agency representatives told village officials not to apply for Sandy assistance to build a permanent wall. The village would be ineligible for federal rebuilding funds because the estuary was undamaged.

"I couldn't help but laugh," McMullen said when he learned that the pre-storm work meant no FEMA funding for longer-term repairs. "If the plant was damaged or destroyed, they'd give you money without thinking about it."

FEMA spokesman Mike Wade said he couldn't comment on what agency representatives said to village officials. He confirmed that the public assistance grants most municipalities applied for after Sandy wouldn't pay for work on areas that hadn't been damaged in the storm.

The wall protected the plant's estuary -- the large, open tank where sewage is treated -- which rises about 2 feet above ground. "We would have taken in hundreds of thousands of gallons of salt water," McMullen said. " . . . It would have taken weeks at best . . . to restart the plant."

Northport would have had to pump untreated sewage into the bay, he said.

The village is using about $10 million in state and county funds to make the plant compliant with new federal and state standards. Officials are concerned that the improved sewer system will be vulnerable in future storms without a bigger wall to protect the estuary and other upgrades.

Adrienne Esposito, co-chair of the Northport Harbor Water Quality Protection Committee, who is running as a Democrat for New York's 3rd Senate District seat, said a new retaining wall "is a critical component" to improving the plant.

Doll said village officials may try to reallocate some upgrade funding to pay for a wall, but he's not sure they have enough for the estimated $150,000 cost.

"We keep finding other pieces of machinery that should also be protected," he said. "Now it's become just a little bigger than building a wall on top of the existing wall."

Northport Village is working with the New York State Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Services to apply for a mitigation grant from FEMA -- funding for prevention measures that is harder to secure because the application process is competitive.

"Everybody in the state is allowed to compete," said Chris Holmes, the agency's chief of public assistance. "It's measured as a cost-benefit analysis; how big of an area does it serve, what population are you helping?"

FEMA has received more than 1,300 letters of intent requesting $11.5 billion in assistance, more than 12 times what the agency anticipated.