When it opens its doors, the Westchester Children”™s Museum expects to draw more than 190,000 visitors a year and generate more than $4 million annually for county business coffers.
The problem is, since nearly signing a lease with the county to occupy the 21,390-square-foot North Wing of the Playland bathhouse in late 2009, the museum has been anxiously awaiting final approval of its lease by the Westchester County Board of Legislators and by County Executive Rob Astorino.
With $8 million already raised for the future Westchester Children”™s Museum, the 10-year-old project is more than halfway to its fundraising goal of $15 million.
Without a permanent home it”™s becoming increasingly difficult to find donors, said Tracy Kay, the museum”™s executive director.
“I know the process needs to play out and that”™s fair, but we would just like to keep moving forward rather than being delayed,” Kay said. “We”™ve been very, very patient.”
Ten years ago, plans to bring a children”™s museum to Westchester were set in motion by a number of volunteers, led by Kay, who partnered with then-County Executive Andrew Spano.
In late 2009, just prior to Spano leaving office, the museum had been on the verge of signing a five-year lease with the county to open in the North Wing of the bathhouse, having already gained approval from the county and state historic preservation offices.
However, Kay said that rather than rushing into a lease agreement, the museum chose to wait until Astorino took office in January 2010 so that it could work with the new county executive to hammer out a 10-year lease agreement that would be in line with Astorino”™s long-term goals for Playland.
Eighteen months later, the museum is still awaiting a vote on its proposed $1-a-year lease by the Board of Legislators, and Kay has been told by Astorino”™s office that he may have to wait until November for the administration”™s decision on Playland and the museum, pending the final recommendations of a citizens review committee that was appointed by Astorino to assess options for Playland.
“We had been moving along throughout the process and then we heard that the county executive, following the (citizens) committee response, was then going to refer it to staff and then we would have a decision sometime by the end of November,” Kay said.
With designs already completed for the proposed museum site and the museum having already pledged $6.77 million to help complete the remainder of the ongoing renovations to the interior and exterior of the 1928 bathhouse, Kay questioned the lengthy wait.
Studies conducted by the museum project it will draw about 190,000 visitors a year, “and that”™s without any spillover from Playland”™s attendance,” Kay said. “We were very conservative with that estimate.”
He added that the museum would likely bring in $2 million in revenue each year and that it would add a total of $4 million to the county economy.
A public hearing and a subsequent vote on the museum”™s proposed 10-year lease were scheduled for the Board of Legislators”™ June 20 meeting. That vote was postponed to incorporate late-surfacing public input. The next opportunity for a vote on the lease is at the Board of Legislators”™ July 11 meeting.
Despite the lack of a formal vote the deal is all but set in stone, said board member William Ryan.
“He (Kay) is understandably anxious to move forward,” Ryan said. “The Legislature”™s attitude is this: It is already decided it will be the policy of the county that it will continue to operate Playland as a park and that the Westchester Children”™s Museum will be a component of that.” Ryan is chairman of the board”™s Public Works, Parks, Labor and Transportation committee.
Approval of museum”™s proposed lease has been delayed since last August, when Astorino issued a call for proposals for “Reinventing Playland Park for the 21st Century.”
The 12 proposals toward Astorino”™s hoped-for reinvention that were submitted have been under review by the 19-member citizens review committee since the March deadline for submissions.
While the Astorino administration has expressed its desire to wait until the completion of the review of the Playland proposals before it gives the final go-ahead to the museum, Kay suggested that by approving the museum lease sooner the county could jump-start its plans to revamp the amusement park.
“It could be the first step in the transformation of anything new at Playland,” Kay said. He said that it would take 18 months following the approval of the lease before the museum would be ready to open.
In addition to the likely increase in parking revenue that the museum would generate for the county, Rye Chamber of Commerce President Lisa Summa-Guarino said that having a year-round attraction would be “fantastic” for Rye businesses.
“As we look to continue to grow Rye as a destination, the addition of the children”™s museum will be great for families to come and experience our wonderful shops, restaurants and professionals throughout Rye,” she said.
