By Ayala Ben-Yehuda
The city is set to acquire an additional half acre of forested land near the Udalls Cove ravine with $350,000 in capital money secured by Councilman Tony Avella (D-Bayside) in the fiscal year 2004 budget.
The funding comes on top of $1.3 million allotted to the Parks Department by the city in May to purchase two parcels of land that serve as critical entry points into the environmentally threatened Udalls Cove ravine.
“We’re thrilled,” said Walter Mugdan, president of the Udalls Cove Preservation Committee. “This is wonderful news.”
“I’m very pleased that we were able to do it,” said Avella, who said he obtained the money after consultation with the Department of Parks and Recreation, Community Board 11, the Little Neck Pines Association and the Udalls Cove Preservation Committee.
Under the city land acquisition process, begun more than 20 years ago under legislation sponsored by state Sen. Frank Padavan (R-Bellerose), the city has purchased several undeveloped parcels from private landholders around Udalls Cove, an inlet of Long Island Sound between Douglas Manor and Little Neck.
Less than a third of the parcels in the ravine are in city hands, according to Mugdan.
The goal is to protect both the cove’s wetlands and the forested ravine area — home to several bird and wildlife species — from development.
The two latest land parcels set for acquisition — Block 8116, Lots 146 and 152 — were a priority because of their proximity to an undeveloped area fronting on 247th Street, which a developer could use to build a roadway into the ravine, said Mugdan.
“Blocking off these two parcels (cuts) off an access point,” he said. Though the two lots together comprised less than half an acre of land, “it’s their specific location that is more important than their size,” said Mugdan.
For the city to follow through on purchasing all the land it had promised, there would still be nine parcels remaining in the ravine that environmentalists would like to see bought and protected.
Purchasing them could become easier since the city’s acquisition of a patchwork of non-contiguous lots makes development less economical, Mugdan said.
At the annual cleanup of the Udalls Cove Preservation Committee in April, Avella, Padavan and Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe made a pledge to save the ravine despite the city’s fiscal crisis.
Reach reporter Ayala Ben-Yehuda by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 718-229-0300, Ext. 146.
