Wading River Duck Ponds restoration moves into engineering phase

A long-discussed effort to restore the Wading River Duck Ponds is moving into the engineering phase after the Riverhead Town Board approved funding and awarded a contract for an assessment of the ponds Tuesday.

The board unanimously appropriated $40,000 from the town’s general fund balance to cover Riverhead’s share of the engineering work. It also awarded a contract to M&J Engineering for an assessment costing no more than $78,856.

Riverhead and Brookhaven will split the contract cost equally, making Riverhead’s share no more than $39,428.

The two ponds lie south of North Country Road, on either side of Zophar Mills Road, in the heart of Wading River’s historic business district.

About 90% of the park lies in Brookhaven, according to Riverhead’s comprehensive plan. Riverhead’s portion runs along North Country Road. Although that portion is relatively small, the comprehensive plan says most of the drainage problems occur within Riverhead’s jurisdiction.

Storm drains carry runoff from Riverhead roads toward the ponds, bringing sediment and pollutants into the water. The ponds also have accumulated sediment and deteriorated bulkheads and other infrastructure.

The engineering assessment will evaluate the feasibility of improvements and recommend measures to replace deteriorated infrastructure, reduce stormwater entering the ponds and remove excess sediment.

Tuesday’s action does not authorize construction or establish the full cost of restoring the ponds. It funds the assessment needed to define the work, prepare cost estimates and advance the necessary permitting.

Riverhead and Brookhaven agreed in February to work together on the planning, design and construction of the project. The intermunicipal agreement identifies dredging, bulkhead reconstruction or replacement and landscaping among the work under consideration.

Under the agreement, the towns will divide engineering and state Department of Environmental Conservation permitting costs equally. The engineer must identify the work located within each town and calculate the cost of each jurisdiction’s portion. Eventual construction costs will be assigned according to the project work within each town’s boundaries.

The agreement does not state what those proportions will be. That determination will follow the engineering assessment and design work.

The current project follows decades of efforts to address water quality, sediment and deteriorating infrastructure at the ponds.

Maintenance dredging was performed in the eastern pond in 1992 and 1993. Riverhead and Brookhaven entered an intermunicipal agreement in 2005, and Riverhead agreed in 2010 to participate in a joint application for federal funding for an approximately $1 million dredging and drainage project.

Brookhaven later obtained a $170,000 state grant and matched it with $170,000 in town funding. Its contractors dredged the eastern pond in April 2012 and installed a water-quality unit to capture road runoff.

Brookhaven began a second phase in late 2013 that included replacing the culvert beneath North Country Road, installing catch basins and underground piping west of the ponds and adding another water-quality unit.

Riverhead planned to contribute $170,000 toward drainage and bulkhead repairs but lost the county grant it expected to use, according to officials at the time. Riverhead’s comprehensive plan says subsequent grant applications for drainage and bulkhead improvements were also unsuccessful.

The Town Board authorized the Riverhead Community Development Agency to seek federal funding for the work in October 2023. In September 2024, the board authorized the agency and town Engineering Department to coordinate with Brookhaven on grant applications for dredging, bulkhead work and landscaping.

The towns formalized the renewed collaboration through the intermunicipal agreement approved this February.

Council Member Ken Rothwell said Tuesday that additional funding is being pursued on two tracks.

The Wading River Civic Association co-sponsored an application for a Suffolk County downtown revitalization grant that would fund beautification work, including curbing, sidewalks, decorative lighting and signs. Rothwell said the county had accepted the duck ponds area as eligible for consideration under the downtown program and that a county advisory panel was expected to act on grant recommendations.

The county’s published schedule calls for the Suffolk County Legislature to award the 2026 downtown grants in October.

Separately, Rothwell said the town is pursuing approximately $3.5 million in grant funding with the office of U.S. Rep. Nick LaLota for the larger restoration effort, including dredging and new bulkheads. That funding has not been awarded.

Rothwell credited Brookhaven officials and Riverhead staff for advancing the project. He said Council Member Denise Merrifield had worked with him on the effort and visited the site and that Council Member Joann Waski had also visited.

Merrifield, who lives in Wading River, offered the resolution appropriating Riverhead’s $40,000 share and seconded the resolution awarding the engineering contract. When casting her vote on the funding resolution, she said, “Yes, very much.”

Wading River Civic Association President Sid Bail urged the board to approve the measures.

“It’s not only going to be for, obviously, the benefit of the Hamlet of Wading River,” Bail said. “I think it’s good for the communities around here. It’s good for tourism. And the ducks have no complaints about you doing this.”

The board approved both resolutions unanimously.