By Stacey Altherr
After decades of inertia, Nissequogue River State Park is finally on the state’s agenda for revitalization, with a goal of a master plan in place by the end of the year, according to the state’s published deadline. What that revitalization will look like is still under discussion, and residents are urged to join in the conversation.
A master plan, needed for any major renovations of a public place, gives concrete long-term goals for its use.
The sprawling 522-acre property, once the site of the enormous complex of buildings of the defunct Kings Park Psychiatric Center, is mostly used as passive parkland, with walking/biking trails. Many residents who have spoken at other public meetings fear over use bringing too much traffic, and others want more recreational uses, such as theaters. What to do with the buildings, many in state of such disrepair as to be unusable without much renovation, is a looming question.
A zoom meeting with residents and interested groups was held Feb. 3. An online survey for information gathering, https://bit.ly/2YABFpq, is open until Feb. 17. The survey asks questions about the use
and concerns about the use of the property. For instance, it asks 18 questions on what should be included on the site, ranging from playgrounds and skateboarding to community gardens and birdwatching.
As part of the master plan process, the state’s Office of Parks and Recreation is also opening up the public comment period, now in effect until March 5, https://parks.ny.gov/inside-our-agency/master-plans.aspx The Feb. 3rd Zoom meeting can be found there as well.
The path to finally getting movement on the state park renovation was an unusual one.
Kings Park Hospital was closed in 1996, with no real use in sight. Mostly a nuisance to local police authorities because of safety concerns of trespassers, a group of citizens and advocacy groups, as well as legislators, petitioned the state to designate it official as parkland, which passed in 2001.
Last year, the State Department of Environmental Conservation began construction of a marine resources headquarters in the parkland area. John McQuaid, president to the not-for-profit Nissequogue River State Park Foundation, said the organization filed a lawsuit to fight the construction, saying that it was an illegal use of parkland. The dispute was taken to court last March, where a Suffolk County Supreme Court Justice Sanford Berland ordered the two sides to reach a compromise.
“We agreed to let them put it there, and for their part we asked them to create a master plan,” McQuaid said. And so far, he is impressed with what has happened.
“We are really impressed with the team. They hired outside consultants and are making sure all the constituents are heard.”
McQuaid said the foundation’s mission is not to create a plan, but to make sure the guidelines of parkland legislation is kept, and to be a part of the process.
“Our agenda is not to dictate what the park should be, but it should be a park,” he said.