Town unveils plans for new country club

Bill San Antonio

A proposed redevelopment of more than seven acres of land once part of the Roslyn Country Club into a new North Hempstead town park could be completed and opened to the public by Memorial Day 2017, Town of North Hempstead officials said.

The plan, outlined during two public information sessions on Thursday and Sunday at the Wheatley School in Old Westbury, includes the renovation of the club’s pool area and tennis courts as well as the construction of a new locker room facility, playgrounds and a basketball court.

“I think this community has an awful lot to look forward to when this project is done and completed and we’re inside,” said Todd Zarin, president of the Roslyn Country Club Civic Association, during Sunday’s session.

“What we’ve seen holds enormous potential for our families, for our neighbors and our community to come back from the enormous circumstances we’ve dealt with in all of this over the years,” he added.

The town agreed to acquire the 7.3-acre site from Corona Realty Holdings last year for $2 million and later created a special park district within the unincorporated Roslyn community to restore the country club amenities that dissipated as the property fell into disrepair over the years.

North Hempstead Town Supervisor Judi Bosworth (D-Great Neck) said Sunday that the project was being planned in conjunction with the Roslyn Country Club Civic Association and feedback from residents to make the new park “a focal point of community life for decades to come.”

“We’re not here to impose this plan, but get an understanding of what the community would want,” Bosworth said.

Zarin said he would form a residents committee to address concerns about the project within the country club community.

He said he plans to notify the town of the community’s acceptance of the plan before Thanksgiving.

Construction is projected to begin sometime in fall 2015 with the surface renovation of five tennis courts and creation of two more, said North Hempstead town Councilman Peter Zuckerman (D-East Hills), whose 2nd district includes the Roslyn Country Club community. 

He said the town would like the tennis courts to be completed by the end of 2015 so that residents can use them the following year, when the bulk of construction is set to take place.

Perhaps the most severe repairs included in the plan are for the pool area, which officials said would allow for a wade-in area compliant with the Americans With Disabilities Act, lap swimming and several smaller pools to be used for aerobics classes and swim instruction.

The redevelopment would be financed using $12 million in borrowed funds, which town officials said would be repaid over a 20-year period. The town would also utilize bond anticipation notes in the first five years of the project due to current low interest rates.

The park district is expected to require $1,092,342 in operating costs in its first year, officials said.

Residents living within the country club community – the property is located within Locust Lane, Saddle Lane and Club Drive – would pay a median $1,320 assessed valuation in 2017, town officials said is based on a home valued at $730,800.

Zuckerman said he expects area property values to soar once the redevelopment is completed, comparing the project to the East Hills Village Park, which he said resulted in home values increasing by an average $100,000 after it opened in 2006.

Corona Realty Holdings owner Manouchehr Malekan unsuccessfully sued Roslyn Country Club residents over easement rights dating back tot he 1950s providing for use of the country club’s facilities for $100 a year, then shuttered the club.

Nearly 400 residents then countersued. The litigation is still pending in court, but Zarin and Town Attorney Liz Botwin said nearly all would drop their lawsuits in exchange for access to the facility. 

Bosworth said the additional litigation would not affect the sale and prospective redevelopment of the country club and that the transaction would be protected by the state comptroller’s office and New York State Constitution.

Roslyn Country Club residents would automatically become members of the new park district, Bosworth said. Prospective membership fees were not disclosed.

Construction is also contingent on the approval of a subdivision application submitted to Nassau County, Botwin said.

She said public hearings would be held on the application and that legal notices would be sent to residents in advance of the hearings.

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