Kings Point seeks to create passive park

Joe Nikic
Kings Point Village Hall.

Village of Kings Point trustees adopted a resolution last Thursday authorizing the village to acquire property along East Shore Road for the creation of a passive park.

Kings Point Village Attorney Stephen Limmer said after holding a public hearing at last Thursday’s Board of Trustees meeting, the board unanimously approved the authorization to purchase the waterfront land on Manhasset Bay for a six-acre park.

“The property would be turned into a passive park that would beautify one of the main gateways to the village, providing residents with beautiful vistas as they enter and exit the village,” Kings Point Mayor Michael Kalnick said. “The new open space will allow residents to enjoy activities such as bird watching, nature study and photography.”

The park would be created by purchasing vacant properties by eminent domain, under which a government entity can seize private property with compensation for public use.

The creation of the passive park would allow the village to continue using a 1.1-acre parcel of land in Kings Point Park for Department of Public Works facilities.

Former state Sen. Jack Martins and former Assemblywoman Michelle Schimel introduced legislation in June to authorize the village to use the park for its DPW facilities. Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the bill in July.

To use the area for non-park functions, the village must also designate another area of the village as parkland, the bill states.

The legislation allowed the village to avoid the demolition of the public works facility as required under a 2014 state Court of Appeals ruling that found the village had violated state law in building it there in 1946.

The state Court of Appeals unanimously affirmed a state Supreme Court’s 2011 ruling that the Village of Kings Point’s plan to raze 5.45 acres of Kings Point Park for a Department of Public Works building violated state law, and ordered the removal of a village salt shed on the property.

Great Neck residents Daniel Capruso, Alan Berkower, Elizabeth Allen and Julian Kane filed the lawsuit in 2009 to block Kings Point’s plan to construct a new public works building on the parkland.

Capruso, who was at the public hearing for the proposed passive park, said resident landowners told the board they did not want their land taken from them and “did not understand why their properties had to be taken from them and made into a park.”

“At the meeting, the mayor and [Board of Trustees] were not forthcoming about the fact that their seizure of property by eminent domain is part of a larger plan to alienate and destroy part of Kings Point Park, although their attorney ultimately admitted that was a fact,” he said.

Kalnick said that the board considered all resident concerns “when rendering a decision.”

Capruso called the move an “abuse of the power of eminent domain.”

“Private property is being taken from citizens as part of a ‘shell game’ that will ultimately result in the destruction of part of a 100-year-old forest in Kings Point Park so that the existing DPW site on Sunset Road can be sold for private development,” he said.

Village officials have considered selling its Sunset Road DPW site in the past, but Kalnick said the village was no longer considering doing so.

Limmer said there was no cost estimate yet for the passive park on East Shore Road as the village was waiting to find out appraisal values of the land and the cost of creating the park.

He added that as plans develop for the site, the board will hold discussions at public meetings.

Kalnick said the Kings Point Police Department would ensure that only Kings Point residents use the park.

“Access would be restricted to sunrise to sunset, which would also be enforced by village police,” he said.

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