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Cedar Creek Plans on the Horizon
Originally published in the 2009 August 20 edition of The
Wantagh-Seaford Citizen. Big plans are brewing for the re-development of Cedar Creek Park in Seaford, a county park that had a face-lift in 2004 but now faces a shutdown because of the county’s ongoing financial problems, including an $11.5 million budget gap this year. The project would include four new turf fields, a spray park adjacent to the children’s park, three new soccer fields, a miniature golf course, a two-level 900-foot driving range, a 110,000 foot indoor sports complex with turf fields, locker rooms and a cardio fitness center as well as concessions stands. There will also be go-cart facilities behind the Cedar Creek water treatment facility where the police impound lot now exists. The aerodrome will remain as will the tether court.
A public/private partnership Principal developers Philip Tavella and Ike Goldstein of IP Development of Bellmore, will make money on the investment by providing enhanced services to patrons willing to pay for them. Those services include the con<<Selection in Document>>cession stands, the miniature golf course and driving range, facilities inside the sports complex, and the go-cart track that includes a family fun center, a corporate go-cart area and conference center and a third go cart track for two and modified four-cylinder gas powered go-carts for any one over the age of five. Mr. Tavella told The Citizen that IP Development was created specifically for this project and “future projects like this.” Mr. Tavella is also a principal in Diversified Financial Consultants of Bellmore. “But this is a separate project and no one from Diversified is involved.” Mr. Tavella said the project will cost approximately $24 million. “We have hedge fund managers who will buy a percentage of this project and will get a return based on the number of years they are involved,” said Mr. Tavella. “I’m also creating 193 jobs,” said Mr. Tavella, including security and maintenance for the park. “I think that in these tough financial times, the public/private model is essential in keeping taxes down and providing essential and enhanced services to residents,” said Mr. Siegel. But not everyone agrees. Bruce Piel, executive director of ParcNassau, a watchdog group in Nassau County that keeps its eye on park developments, said, “This is strictly a money-making scheme and the taxpayers will lose out. You don’t need to turn our parks into an amusement park; that’s not what they are for. Our parks are supposed to be green open spaces for the enjoyment of the public.”
Dolores Annarella, a retired parks employee who has worked at Cedar Creek Park and Wantagh Park for the past 10 years, told The Citizen that “This is all about dollars. Cedar Creek is not a money-making park. We take in about $50,000 a year in revenue but the park is used by about 500,000 people a year. The county forgets this is suburbia and we love our gorgeous parks.” The county’s Ian Siegel said that this project could bring in “about one million dollars in revenue a year [for the county].” “We are not taking away any services already available at the park,” added Mr. Tavella, “only improving upon what’s there. In addition to the fields, I’m putting in a spray park and that’s free, at no cost to the residents. It’s a big park and a lot of the space is underutilized.”
A park for special needs children Mr. Tavella said there would also be dedicated space in the outdoor fields for special needs children to participate in sports-related activities. Mr. Tavella has a special needs child and “wanted to provide a space for children like my son. I read about the county’s problems and I approached them.” Mr. Siegel confirmed that a request for proposals (RFP) was created after Mr. Tavella approached the county. “No one else responded to our RFP,” said Mr. Siegel. Darlene Capobianco, a Wantagh resident and the police officer director of the Special Needs Unit of the Nassau County Police Activity League, supports the redevelopment project at Cedar Creek. “We need more fields for children with special needs to use,” she told The Citizen. John Gilmore, executive director of Autism United, also supports the proposed new Cedar Creek Park development. He said “the developers approached us early on to work with them to develop programs for special needs children.” He explained that children with autism, ADD, ADHD and learning disabilities may have communication, social interaction and sometimes cognitive deficits that preclude participation in mainstream sports and recreational programs.
“There is a real need for this and a real benefit to the whole community at
no cost,” said Mr. Gilmore. The fields at Cedar Creek, including a summer
baseball camp run by the Mets baseball team, will help to address these
issues for special needs children, as well as the dedicated space inside the
sports facility for a number of special needs programs. The corporate go-carts would have limited hours and “you must wear a helmet and race gear and take a lesson. Hours will be restricted,” he said. The go-cart track would be behind the sewage treatment plant and just to the north of the aerodrome. The track would be 1,500 feet from the nearest house and includes a 35-foot berm between the houses and the track. “It’s very quiet,” said Mr. Tavella. You can’t really hear them when you are 30 feet away.”
What is the decibel level?
Jill Bromberg of Merrick has a 10-year-old son who enjoys go-carting and she
plans to take her son to this new track. “The noise isn’t too bad. I live
near Sunrise Highway and I hear all the traffic and the trains. It’s sort of
like that, background noise,” she said. “Without the go-cart track I will
not do this project,” said Mr. Tavella. “I’m providing a lot to the public –
the fields, the spray park, security and maintenance.” Tony Polio, president of the Merokee Radio Club, who represents the flyers at the aerodrome, said, “We are always concerned about any development over which we fly. We had a meeting with the county and learned about this deal. We are trying to work with them. We are not happy about turning the park into a commercial operation. But they will stay north of our boundary and we can live with it.” The county’s Mr. Siegel said “there is still a lot of work to be done on this proposal. We must go through an entire environmental assessment and will address all the issues. We plan to ask the developer to present his proposal to the public sometime this fall. Then we can move forward.” |
