Community critics of the Belmont arena development project are voicing concern over the Empire State Development Corp.’s picks for the 15-member Belmont Community Advisory Committee that the organization rolled out on Tuesday.
The group consists of local elected officials, including Floral Park Mayor Dominick Longobardi, and community members.
The committee will ensure that community members have a “seat at the table” as the Belmont arena development takes place, Howard Zemsky, Empire State Development Corp. president, CEO and commissioner, said in a press release.
The committee formation follows months of opposition by some community members and local activists to the development, a $1 billion project backed by New York Arena Partners, a joint venture between Sterling Development and Oak View Group.
The plan is to create an 18,000-seat arena for the New York Islanders, a multipurpose event center, a retail center and a hotel on 43 acres of state-owned land currently used for parking spaces at Belmont Park.
Efforts to reach the Empire State Development and Longobardi were unavailing.
Matthew Sexton, a Floral Park resident who’s been publicly opposed to the development, said the committee is nothing more than a sham.
“I don’t understand how a non-transparent committee, that’s not advertised, can work with the community,” Sexton said.
The committee is also filled with some controversial members, according to Sexton.
Dave Kapell, listed in the Empire State Development press release as associated with Kapell Real Estate, Inc, is also a consultant to the Rauch Foundation – a Long Island-based investment foundation.
Kapell, who is from the Village of Greenport, has no qualifications to be on the committee and has conflicts of interest, Sexton said.
Kapell has served his community for 27 years in different positions, including community development director, village trustee, planning board chairman and mayor.
As part of the Long Island Association, Kapell serves as executive director of the Right Track for Long Island Coalition in support of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s LIRR Enhancement Project.
Sexton said when the Floral Park Civic Association reached out to Kapell to speak about the right track project, Kapell “talked a good game and never showed up.”
Kapell’s only experience in Floral Park is donating to state Sen. Todd Kaminsky’s campaign, Sexton said.
Kapell donated $100 to Kaminsky in 2016, according to campaign finance records.
“I don’t understand how a rich white guy from out in Suffolk County and the Hamptons can know anything about our community,” Sexton said.
Efforts to reach Kapell were unavailing.
The Belmont Community Advisory Committee has five members noted as community residents.
The community members were appointed by local elected officials and the Empire State Development Corp., according to the release.
The community members were “hand selected to rubber stamp” whatever is proposed, Aubrey Phillips, an Elmont resident and vice president of the Parkhurst Civic Association said.
Phillips added that many of the community members chosen are frustrated at this point, after fighting development for years, that they’re ready to agree to anything.
“In fact, one of the members has stated that to me verbally, ‘I’ve been working on this for 20 years I don’t care what they put there anymore,'” Phillips said.
While a few members know what the community wants and still stand up for it, the group as a whole is suspect, Phillips said.
Along with questionable committee member picks, the formation of the community also comes too late in the process, Phillips said.
Phillips said that the committee should have been formed months ago – before the request for proposal was submitted.
Phillips said that while it’s not explicitly stated in the law when in the process the committee should form, he said it is the intent of the law that it’s formed before.
“So this is something they’re doing retroactively to ensure that they’re compliant with the letter of the law but not the spirit of the law,” Phillips said.
Phillips said the Belmont Community Coalition will not back down.
“We are going to make every effort legal and otherwise to ensure that our community gets what our community deserves,” Phillips said. “And not what someone from the outside is telling us we deserve.”
One goal the coalition wants the community advisory to advocate for is ensuring the Belmont railroad station is renovated to help residents with daily commutes, not just to benefit fans coming to the stadium, Phillips said.
Cuomo stated that the station would be fixed up in time for the new arena opening.
“When they say they’re going to give [us] a railroad station we’re not asking for a station that’s episodic and narrowly confined to the times the games will be held,” Phillips said.
What the community needs is a train that will come in the morning to take commuters to work and school, not one that comes in time for a hockey game, Phillips said.
The committee must insist that if Cuomo chooses to renovate a station for the needs of a stadium in the community that he also appreciates the transportation needs of that community, Phillips said.
Phillips added that the coalition agrees that the Islanders belong on Long Island – and said whether members are fans or not they understand the tradition of the team.
The issue, he said, is that the Islanders belong at Nassau Coliseum and not at Belmont Park.
If there were a sustained effort to ensure that the Islanders returned to Nassau Coliseum, the coalition would be in complete support, Phillips said.
The Islanders have announced that they will be returning to their former home arena, but only for half their games during the interim while the new arena is built.
