Rally Monday, Meeting Tuesday on Hotel Plan for Marbledale Road Quarry in Tuckahoe

TUCKAHOE, NY — Concerned residents will hold a rally Monday in front of Village Hall in Tuckahoe to protest what they consider insufficient testing and safety protocols for the Marriott SpringHill Suites and detached restaurant at the former Marbledale Road Quarry.

The Marbledale Road Environmental Coalition, which includes local residents, businesses and members of the Waverly School PTA, are going to assemble to raise awareness on these issues and also meet with the Village Board at 8 p.m.

“We cannot be complacent in protecting our community. Our children are our most vulnerable citizens,” said Waverly PTA co-President Sarah DeRise in an announcement about the rally.

After the quarry was closed in 1930 it was eventually turned into a private dump where local companies (including a pharmaceutical company) and the village of Tuckahoe, Bronxville and the Town of Eastchester dumped municipal and hazardous waste from the early 1950's until the 1970s. The village has no record of what was dumped in there during those years, rally organizers said.

The initial testing of the landfill section of the property has found cinders, ash, construction debris, mattress parts and metal auto parts. Noxious compounds included benzene, acetone, mercury, lead, and pesticides among many others, organizers said. Testing confirms that the groundwater on the Marriott site is highly contaminated. The groundwater flows to the Bronx River.

The northern part and the southern part of the site (which are not being developed) have been designated as Superfund sites by the state, organizers said. The part of the site where the development will be is under the state's brownfield program. The clean up standards for a brownfield program are less stringent than the Superfund program.

Yet the village Planning Board has made a conditional "negative declaration" saying a full environmental impact study of Tuckahoe's toxic trench is not needed for the hotel project.

The current plan that has been approved by the state Department of Environmental Conservation will not remove any of the buried toxic materials from the site, organizers said.

Part of the site (where the development will be located) would have some topsoil removed and will be capped with concrete and the pavement for the parking area. They are concerned that all of these material can crack and degrade over time.

Residents are also concerned about the vents that will be put in top of the hotel to release vapor in perpetuity into the atmosphere. A simple filter will be put on these pipes and will be maintained by the hotel.

The coalition is concerned about poisonous vapors a few feet away from homes and less than 2/3 of a mile from Anne Hutchinson School, 800 feet from the Waverly Early Childhood Center and 1000 feet from The School of the Immaculate Conception.

The construction plan will not stop any toxic vapors from being emitted during construction. Protesters are concerned that the builder will not be measuring the kind of vapors that are being released — just the amount of vapor; and if it gets too high, the plan is that an alarm will go off and they will stop construction. They are also concerned that the public will not know about this in real time.

More than 1,000 local residents have signed a petition asking for more testing to uncover the full scale of the underground pollution. Then the appropriate safety protocols can be put into place to keep toxins from escaping the property, organizers said.

Upcoming events:

Rally
Monday, Aug. 8, 2016. 7:30pm
Tuckahoe Village Hall, 65 Main St.,
Tuckahoe, NY

Village Board Meeting
Monday, Aug. 8, 2016. 8pm
Tuckahoe Village Hall, 65 Main St.,
Tuckahoe, NY

On Aug. 9, there will also be a meeting to discuss the details of the plan:

Hear from the Experts
The Dump Site Overview Presentation:
Tuesday, Aug. 9, 7PM
Mickey Spillane’s
431 White Plains Rd.,Eastchester
The presenter will be Dr. Donald Hughes, an expert in industrial hazardous waste sites.