Three strikes for Legoland as it gets another runoff violation

By Frances Ruth Harris
GOSHEN — Legoland New York has received its third violation for letting runoff from its construction site in Goshen pollute a threatened stream.
"One would think they would make a wall of Legos to catch the silt from the runoff," quipped Michael Edelstein, a professor of environmental psychology at Ramapo College and a Goshen resident.
"The issue is the degradation of the stream and overnourishments of any downstream lakes or ponds," he wrote in an email to The Chronicle. "Legoland is doing major land rearrangement and will cause enormous erosion unless it is captured. My concern is also if they cannot address a relatively simple issue now, how are they going to do on compliance later? I would have hoped Goshen would have created contingencies so they would have leverage over Legoland. In any case, they cannot be allowed to do this again without some kind of serious fine and PR problems."
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) stated in its third violation that "the basic erosion and sediment control plan must be implemented immediately."
'Historic' weatherLegoland's parent company, Merlin Entertainments, is a global corporation with extensive experience building huge theme parks around the world, in varying landscapes and climes. So what gives?
Phil Royle, director of development for Legoland New York, blamed the "historic" weather in an email to The Chronicle.
“These last few months have seen some especially challenging weather — from historic tornadoes in mid-May to a storm this past Wednesday night in which three inches of rain fell in just a few hours. We have been working continuously to increase our stormwater protection measures, and we will continue to work with our construction team, our engineers, and the Town of Goshen to address the runoff from our site.”
Legoland New York was a bitterly contested project, with grassroots groups hiring lawyers and paying for independent environmental reviews to stop it, an effort that has proved unsuccessful. Opponents complained that town officials ignored the town's master plan, which forbids amusement parks.
Much of the opponents' concern over Legoland New York centered on how it would affect the environment, its use of Goshen's famously limited water resources, and its impact on the Otterkill, a threatened stream. Legoland reps doled out comforting assurances during all the months of planning. But now that the project is underway, the pile-up of violations seems to confirm some of their worst fears.
The town of Goshen has regulatory oversight of the Legoland project. The DEC also said communications from the town were unclear, unlabeled, and without subcatchments, which is used to model the runoff from a site. The DEC said the original stormwater pollution prevention plan needed to be updated to identify the flow and stockpile areas, and add further erosion and sediments controls.
“More aggressive stabilization is needed," the DEC said.
Town Supervisor Doug Bloomfield said the town and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation "are working diligently with Legoland engineers and consultants to resolve groundwater issues outlined in the notice of violations."
When water runs off a construction site, it carries pollutants from the site, like petroleum, herbicides, pesticides, and fertilizers, to local streams. Contaminated surface water has been shown to harm the aquatic species they host.
A 'dynamic' siteThe Goshen town attorney, Rick Golden, recounted the circumstances of the three violations (see sidebar), stressing all the while that the town and Legoland are very sorry any of these violations happened.
"It is important to note that the present construction grading disturbance of approximately 100 acres at the Legoland site was the proposed and approved plan," he wrote. "It included soil erosion and sediment control measures that were anticipated to be sufficient to control silt runoff from the site. The town approved this plan, as did the DEC, prior to construction. The dynamic nature of the site grading, coupled with numerous above-average rain events, have caused excessive amounts of silt to leave the site on occasion that resulted in turbidity down stream. Both the DEC and the town are presently reviewing a modified plan from Legoland that is designed to prevent these events as much as possible, and are requesting that Legoland provide even more protections. The town will continue to monitor this situation closely."