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The town board plans to contact representatives including Assemblyman Tom Abinanti and Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins to meet in two weeks to discuss how to proceed with Woodard and Curran's findings. The environmental team found traces of carcinogens on the 715 Dobbs Ferry Road site where Game On 365 will construct its new sports complex.
In the meantime, the public can submit their questions for the town board to answer during the meeting, slated for Nov. 27.
"This way, everybody basically knows what's happening — how many remediations we're going to do," Town Supervisor Paul Feiner said about plans for cleanup.
Feiner said he wants to wait for Woodard and Curran's remediation suggestions before presenting the data to the Department of Environmental Conservation.
Abinanti, however, said that, because various chemicals have contaminated the site during its use as a nursery, the DEC should have been involved long ago — before the town gained ownership to lease it.
Because DEC never interfered, the town will ultimately be left up to clean up the mess, Abinanti said.
"In general, DEC should take a much more proactive stance in enforcing land owners to clean up property that they pollute," Abinanti said. "This situation is the perfect argument for that."
According to the lease, Game On has to pay an "Initial Environmental Contribution" up to $125,000. It must also pay an additional 125,000 for Phase II and remediation costs. If the costs go over $250,000, the town will make up for the next $150,000. But if the price tag goes over $400,000, the town's financial obligation ends. However, Game On can terminate the lease if it decides the price tag is too steep.
But Feiner said the site's cleanup, regardless of cost, is still necessary.
"Nobody wants to live near a contaminated site," he said.
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