The Leeds Pond culvert located beneath North Plandome Road is cracking, eroding, collapsing and could eventually lead to flooding, according to Plandome Manor officials.
Edward Butt, the village’s building inspector, visited the culvert last week with an engineer from the Mineola-based architectural firm Sidney Bowne & Son LLP which was hired by the Town of North Hempstead to observe the structure’s conditions and suggest methods of fixing it.
“There’s water seeping through along the walls themselves,” Butt said. “It looks like some thing needs to be done really soon.”
The culvert was built by the Town of North Hempstead in 1954 to slow the growth of a marshy lake that would form as Manhasset Bay overflowed, in addition to separating the salt water and fresh water bodies.
Over the years, Butt said, it has been fixed as needed by town officials.
But in the last decade, as climate change has led to more frequent high tides and the area was struck by superstorms Irene and Sandy, the culvert has suffered physical damage that Butt said has led to a rapid deterioration of the culvert’s structure.
Butt said the top and sides of the culvert are cracked and have caused leaks, and structural reinforcement bars that had previously been exposed due to past deterioration have worsened.
“We have to consider what we want to do as far as a weight limit or even closing it,” Butt said. “As we come into hurricane season, this is where all the storm surges begin to take their toll. We’re trying to express our concerns about this and we’re at a point right now where people are starting to listen and hopefully they do something to move on this.”
Lenny LaSala, the engineer sent by Sidney Bowne on behalf of the Town of North Hempstead, declined comment, saying he had not yet completed his report to the town on his findings.
“We’re trying to make a determination on the settlement that’s in the area there,” LaSala said. “Because of the agreements we have with the client, we really can’t say anything.”
Butt said the town sent an engineer to inspect the culvert four years ago, who concluded deterioration to the structure was minor in nature but was still in need of repairs.
Part of the recent observations, Butt said, included wear marks on North Plandome Road that he thought were connected to the culvert’s deterioration, which could eventually present even greater flooding issues than those the village faced in the wake of Irene and Sandy.
Butt said the village and town have disputed who is responsible for maintaining the culvert, but as the conditions worsen, the safety risks increase.
“We still have flooding, we still have people swerving out of the way, we still have a culvert that’s collapsing and we’re going to sit here and wait for something to happen and then lawyer up, it just doesn’t make any sense,” Butt said.
