Judge’s Ruling on Harrison’s Project Home Run Gives Rye the Next At-Bat

Administrative Law Judge Daniel O’Connell ruled May 29 that Harrison may not proceed with its plan to fill in ball fields next to Beaver Swamp Brook. He stated: “I have determined there is a substantive and significant issue about whether Project Home Run would be compatible with the public health and welfare weighing standard.”

For several years, both Harrison and Rye residents have contended that the Beaver Swamp Brook remediation project substantially increased storm water runoff and flooding adjacent to the brook. Longtime Rye resident Henry King was one of the first to sound the alarm that too much fill had been added, causing harm to the environment.

At a Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) hearing on July 23, 2007, the City of Rye and its attorneys vigorously contested Harrison’s proposal to place additional fill in order to construct the recreational facilities (Project Home Run) next to the brook. Rye said, “The additional fill will increase flooding from Beaver Swamp Brook, more than the floods of spring 2007.”

Harrison will now be required to provide significantly more information, subject to DEC review, in order to proceed. “Judge O’Connell validated many of the issues raised by our experts and attorneys,” said Mayor Steve Otis, “and now requires Harrison to produce additional information as part of a longer process if they want to continue to seek a permit. Rye was granted full standing in that process.”
While Harrison has not yet struck out with Project Home Run, the balls and strikes count is certainly against them.

—Rye Record staff