Nissequogue River State Park Master Plan Draft To Be Released In June

By Stacey Altherr

Photos courtesy of “Long Island State Parks.”

Plan on seeing some more public meetings this summer on the redevelopment of Nissequogue River State Park after its master plan and environmental impact statement drafts are scheduled to be released in June, according to state parks officials.

Well into the second phase of planning, with design teams refining earlier concepts with more detailed descriptions of projects for the park, the drafts will produce another public comment period, which will be a minimum of 30 days, after the release.

The Master Plan is a set of recommendations that will set in place the plans for the park; from trails to concessions. Officials from New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation say that the master plan and EIS will incorporate much of what community members asked for during the public meeting over the past few years.

In addition, as part of the EIS process, a draft scoping document that was originally released December 8^th,  and garnered public input, will become a final scoping document also released in a next few weeks. That document takes into consideration the environmental impact of the potential Master Plan actions, said state officials.

“It is critical to note that public comments on the draft scoping document, as well as each of the hundreds of comments received throughout all the community engagements, have directly informed and shaped all the actions and steps being considered in the action plan,” said George Gorman Jr., regional director of state parks.

In the public comment summary portion of the Master Plan draft, the wide community net garnered requests for all types of recreational activities, such as tennis/pickleball courts, sledding, pools, golf course, equestrian stables, children playgrounds, sensory and community gardens, theater(s), and eateries.

However, having walking, running and equestrian trails, along with some type of boating recreation, was top of the list of requests. The area is well known for its bird watching, as well.

Some commenters asked that the natural beauty of the park not be disturbed by too much construction to accommodate some of the recreational facilities. State officials say they are aware of that, as well, noting that the trail system is a critical piece of the plan, as well as indoor and outdoor performance spaces. 

“NRSP’s identity is intimately tied to its inherent natural beauty, and to its history of engaging with and observing nature as part of the healing process…. Our team’s environmental consultant has conducted an extremely thorough inventory of the site’s existing ecological communities, and this map underlies all the design work,” said state park officials.

The massive waterfront park, which sits on 522 acres, is the site of the former Kings Park Psychiatric Hospital which was once the home of one of the largest mental health institutions in the country. The hospital closed in 1996, and over the decades became a nuisance for local authorities when the decaying structures became a place for trespassers and vandals. 

Groups of community members and legislators petitioned the state to designate it official parkland in perpetuity. In 2000, then Governor George Pataki signed a law making 153 acres into a state park. On the last day of his administration in 2007, he transferred the rest of the Kings Park property into the already established Nisseguogue River State Park.

Since then, the park has been used passively by community members, and security has been enforced. Because of its size and environmental sensitivity, the design of a state-of-the-art park design has been in the process for years, including studies, public meetings and surveys, although some buildings have been demolished for safety reasons.