Aero Members Want Their Runway Back

Hopes of flying again in the not-so-distant future ring loud and clear for the 76 members of the Hempstead Harbor Aero Modelers Society (HHAMS), a Port Washington not-for-profit.

They can't fly in North Hempstead until Nassau County tells the Town of North Hempstead that the aerodrome at North Hempstead Beach Park can reopen its field. The members have been waiting since 2007.

At that time, the field, which sits on a former landfill, was closed for remediation work ordered by the Department of Environmental Conservation. The work has been completed, and there is even a brand new runway intact. But the HHAMS have yet to receive the all-clear.

And that's hurting the model flying community, said Ken Casser, an HHAMS member.

"Flyers are going to Cedar Creek Park on the South Shore, and other members will not go there because it is too far from their home," Casser said. "I have heard some people say that you don't need two fields, but I just want our aerodrome back."

Since 1991 when the organization was formed by seven model plane hobbyists, society members have looked to the field as a home. It's where they taught beginners to fly model airplanes. It's where they delivered the basics of putting a model together and how to obtain a flyers permit for this hobby.

Member Larry Aceuedo said he fell in love with building and flying electric, gas and glow fuel run model planes. It's a hobby he shares with his two sons. "I have several model planes at home and now they just sit idle," Aceuedo said. 

Ron Coniglio, president of the society, was told that the aerodrome field would open in 2009. He is disappointed at the standstill.

Town Councilman Fred Pollack said the county is waiting for its consulting engineer to submit a report documenting that the required remediation work at the aerodrome site is complete. 

"Once that [documentation] is accepted, the county will advise the town, and we can proceed to open the aerodrome," Pollack said. He added that the aerodrome could be opened in a matter of weeks.

The aerodrome had been a county property and the county closed it in order to do the necessary remediation, Pollack said.  When the property was transferred to the town, it was subject to the county completing the remediation.

But for some, the waiting seems especially lengthy for a site where the contamination was not all that extensive.

Coniglio weighed in. "The aerodrome was built on what was once a clean fill dumpsite," he said.  "That means that no garbage was dumped there, but primarily road debris and some tree trimmings when the county was doing road work.  Very small amounts of methane were traced seeping from the site after the town's garbage dump, about three quarters of a mile south of us, and was closed in the 1990s.  That's why the DEC ordered that the topsoil be stripped off the site, vent pipes be installed, which allow the methane to vent out of the ground, and new topsoil be laid down and grass seeded."

The DEC, Coniglio added, also specified in its order that whatever activity was on the property should be replaced, hence the new runway. He said the completed remediation work was paid for by the county with a grant from the state and Hempstead Harbor Park.

Coniglio said HHAMS has done its part to expedite the process.

"The Town has asked that the HHAMS incorporate, which we have, to take over the administration of the facility," Coniglio said. 

Now it seems, all they can do is wait for the documentation to be in order, a process they hope won't take more than a few weeks, or at most, a month. 

"Unfortunately, that 'official' piece of paper can easily take a year or more to generate," Coniglio said.

It's a delay that affects not only the club, but also members of the community, he said.

"We have always had a regular stream of spectators who just like to sit and watch us fly for awhile," Coniglio said. "We have several people who live in the retirement community just south of the Aerodrome who like to come and watch on a regular basis. It's a fun sport and we are waiting for the day that we can fly again."