For approximately 17 years, Glen Cove’s Crescent Beach has been closed to swimmers. The cause was initially fleeting; the solution was complex, and yes, the process at times was extremely frustrating.
Now that nearly two decades have come and gone, the project has come to fruition and the beach is open for the summer, so it is a good time to reflect on this journey and how we got to this moment.
The cause of the closure was not the beach at all - it was the stream that runs west of the beach that was the cause of the trouble. When Ralph Suozzi was Mayor of Glen Cove, Nassau County began testing Crescent Beach for the level of bacteria present in the water, which detected levels 1,000 times higher than the permissible amount.
At the time, I was serving as a Glen Cove City Councilwoman, and the City’s Parks Department began its investigation with various dye tests to determine if faulty septic systems were the culprit. While Glen Cove is 90 percent sewered, some neighborhoods near the beach were not, which made it a logical starting point.
Becoming a Nassau County Legislator in 2012 gave me the opportunity to delve further into the issue. Based upon the initial hypothesis, I secured $12 million in Nassau’s capital plan to expand sewer service. While we did not use most of this funding, subsequent studies determined that two new pump stations, along with miles of sewer lines, would be needed to fully sewer this portion of Glen Cove at a cost of more than $30 million.
As our probe continued, engineers discovered approximately 20 pipes in a stream near the beach, and bacteria levels were very high at the mouths of two of those pipes. Further testing determined that the source of the bacteria was animals, not humans. Upon that discovery, I met with former Mayor Tim Tenke and the homeowners, who agreed to purchase Helix filters to purify the water exiting the pipes from their properties. We are all so grateful to those homeowners, whose cooperation set us on a path toward resolving the issues at Crescent Beach.
Another concern that needed to be addressed was water runoff, which crossed over a wooded area in what was almost a natural viaduct. Because the pathway was so carved out, any bacteria that accumulated remained in the water when it reached the stream. Natural, bacteria-reducing plantings were utilized there as a natural solution to this issue.
The last major hurdle was cleared through a $250,000 project to upgrade a culvert, or a large pipe, near the stream that was almost entirely blocked. Glen Cove’s Department of Public Works, which has done yeoman’s work at Crescent Beach, additionally re-graded sand to prevent runoff and installed signs reminded residents to keep dogs away from the stream.
Slowly, but surely, bacteria levels in the Nassau County Department of Health’s routine sampling began to drop. By the end of summer 2025, we received optimistic signals that the beach could soon be able open. This April, we received the message we had all been waiting for – Crescent Beach can welcome swimmers once again!
There are so many people to thank for their efforts and support for this project. Four Mayors – Ralph Suozzi, Reggie Spinello, Tim Tenke and Pamela Panzenbeck – were involved in this process, and they worked tirelessly, Democrats and Republicans alike, to achieve this outcome. Glen Cove contributed greatly by improving the parking lot and bathrooms. Vinnie Martinez, Mario Calderon, and Rocco Graziosi from Glen Cove DPW and Recreation Director Spiro Tsirkas were true forces of nature in getting this done.
New York State’s Department of Environmental Conservation, Nassau County’s Department of Health, Eric Swenson, Executive Director of the Hempstead Harbor Protection Committee, and Dr. Sarah Meyland, who guided us in selecting the plants for filtration, were instrumental partners, as was former Sea Cliff Mayor Bruce Kennedy, who literally put on his boots to help me inspect outflow pipes. I want to also thank retired Nassau DPW commissioner Ken Arnold, who always took meetings with me to discuss this beloved beach, and Steve Hearl, Vice President of H2M Architects & Engineers, for his expert assistance.
After being asked countless times, “when are you going to open the beach?” that day has come – and it is truly an example of levels of government working together and never giving up. It is a model for what can be achieved through cooperation in pursuit of a common goal that prioritizes the environment and our quality of life.
Delia DeRiggi-Whitton, of Glen Cove, is the Minority Leader of the Nassau County Legislature.