Glen Cove's Crescent Beach To Reopen 17 Years Later, Bacteria Levels Reduced

GLEN COVE, NY – Glen Cove's Crescent Beach will once again welcome swimmers to its shoreline after remaining closed for 17 years, officials said, now that bacteria levels have been reduced.

The decision to reopen nearly two decades later was announced on April 2 in a letter from the Nassau County Department of Health. The DOH cited a reduction in bacterial levels found in samples analyzed in 2024 and 2025.

The beach has remained closed since a June 2009 heavy rainfall affected the bacteria levels of the waters, according to a 2014 City of Glen Cove fact sheet. While bacteria levels typically subside within a day after rainfall, elevated levels of microbiological contamination continued to be detected in Crescent Beach’s bathing waters, officials said.

The City and Nassau County Department of Health worked together on an investigation, tracing elevated bacteria levels to a nearby stream that ran directly into the Long Island Sound, officials said.

Since the stream was within 750 feet of the beach, it also had to meet the DOH's water quality standards, which it did not. The nearboy storm water conveyance system also had elevated bacteria levels, officials said.

To restore the bacteria levels, the City installed Helix filter systems and a box culvert near the base of the stream, officials said, "utilizing plantings that naturally absorb bacteria, and creating a new conduit, to reduce and manage bacteria levels." This was all part of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC)-approved remediation plan. There were water monitoring systems and community efforts as well.

The City of Glen Cove, Nassau County, local officials, local property owners, local stakeholders and environmental advocates like Eric Swenson from the Hempstead Harbor Protection Committee, Bruce Kennedy in Sea Cliff, government officials like Dr. Irina Gelman at the DOH, Glen Cove Recreation Director Spiro Tsirkas and Rocco Graziosi and his team at the Glen Cove DPW, and more, all took part in making the reopening a success.

Longtime Glen Cove resident and Mayor Pamela Panzenbeck said the beach has always brought back special memories.

"Crescent Beach has been part of my life for as long as I can remember — from going there as a kid to bringing my own children years later," she said. "Seeing it reopen really means a lot."

Minority Leader Delia DeRiggi-Whitton helped make the reopening possible after securing nearly $1 million in county bond funding to support critical improvements aimed at addressing bacteria contamination from a nearby estuary.

"Reopening Crescent Beach has been my personal goal for the last 17 years, and this project to protect our environment and improve our quality of life has been a tremendous group effort that four Mayors, regardless of their political party, each supported," DeRiggi-Whitton said.

Officials said in order to help maintain the progress over the years, DeRiggi-Whitton is working on pursuing a "$108,740 intermunicipal agreement between the County and the City for a Caterpillar Compact Track Loader."

Executive Director of the Hempstead Harbor Protection Committee Eric Swenson emphasized the collaborative effort behind the beach’s reopening and the importance of protecting local waterways.

"Clean water and local bathing beaches are essential to our quality of life and we should never take them for granted," he said.