State Sen. Jack Martins has withdrawn a bill that would have allowed the Village of Kings Point to swap 2.48 acres of Kings Point Park for 5.76 acres owned by the United Mashadi Jewish Community of America.
The withdrawal comes after the state Supreme Court handed down a judgment on Thursday, Feb. 19, in response to a lawsuit against the village, annulling the conclusions of the Kings Point’s environmental review of the parkland and calling for the village to withdraw its request for Martins to pass the legislation.
Denise Paredes, who works for Martins’ press office, said she had heard about the situation through constituents who called their office. She said Martins then reached out to Kings Point, who confirmed.
“The senator is only pursuing this at the village’s request,” Paredes said about the bill.
Village Attorney Stephen Limmer said the village did not send an official letter requesting that Martins withdraw the bill until Tuesday, March 10. Limmer said the delay was due to Mayor Kouros Torkan being on vacation.
“Due to certain concerns being raised by Village residents, along with requests for further environmental review by the Village, please be advised that the Village hereby withdraws the above-mentioned proposal for alienation of parkland,” the letter signed by Torkan read.
It continued, “Upon further assessment and SEQRA evaluations, the Village may decide to make a new proposal for the alienation of that parkland.”
The land swap has been a significant concern on the Great Neck peninsula since Save Kings Point Park, a local activist group, ramped up a pressure campaign on local lawmakers over the past several months.
The activists, whose Facebook group has almost 900 members, regularly encourage residents to voice their disapproval at Village of Kings Point and Village of Great Neck board of trustees meetings, as well as Great Neck Park District Board of Commissioners meetings.
When the Village of Great Neck approved the construction of a center for the United Mashadi Jewish Community of America abutting Kings Point Park, it also approved variances that allowed fewer parking spaces than the village code required, provided the center had a shuttle bus from another parking lot.
After construction began on the center, the village of Kings Point proposed a land swap with the United Mashadi Jewish Community of America to use the 2.48 acres to build a larger parking lot and other private facilities.
Under the plan, the Great Neck Park District would then lease the 5.76 acres currently owned by the Mashadi community from Kings Point, and just under 8 acres of adjoining land owned by the village for 40 years.
The village then formally asked Martins and Assembly Member Daniel Norber, who represent Great Neck in their respective state legislatures, to sponsor a bill allowing the village to alienate parkland for the swap.
Jody Kass Finkel, an activist with Concerned Citizens of NY-03 who has pushed back against the land swap, wrote in an email, “While today’s withdrawal of the alienation legislation is important, the effort to alienate the parkland for a private parking lot is not over.
Despite the enormous distrust caused by the lack of transparency, the Village of Kings Point recently hired a consultant to conduct a new environmental review of the potential impacts of the parkland alienation.”
“Unfortunately, the secrecy about the scope of the review and their unwillingness to engage the community continues,” the email stated.
