Sustainable Playland Inc. has until May 1 to let the county know whether it”™s in or out of the plan to take over management of Westchester-owned Playland park.
County Board of Legislators Chairman Michael Kaplowitz appeared alongside SPI President Kim Morque on this weekend”™s episode of “Newsmakers” on Cablevision”™s News 12. Kaplowitz told Morque on the air that he was setting a deadline for May 1 for SPI, a Rye-based nonprofit, to tell legislators whether it was on board.
SPI removed itself from lawmakers”™ review of its plan earlier this month amid scrutiny of the nonprofit”™s improvement plans for the park, which included constructing an 82,500-square-foot athletic field house. Critics of the plan, including members of the board”™s parks subcommittee, said the field house was too large for the neighborhood and encroached too much upon parking in the area. Rye residents formed SPI specifically for the purpose of seeking to take over management of Playland, but its detractors questioned if the group would be able to manage a large-scale project of this kind or raise the necessary capital.
Further complicating matters, the city of Rye recently asserted its zoning authority over any construction at the park and said it had approval rights of any plans for Playland, which is owned by Westchester but within the city”™s borders. SPI representatives said they were removing themselves from the county”™s review of its plan until the turf dispute was resolved, but Kaplowitz took issue with that stance, saying legal or jurisdictional questions should not derail the legislature”™s review of the plan.
Kaplowitz, a Democrat who became board chairman in January, originally planned to bring SPI”™s 50-plus page improvement plan to vote in May. Three board subcommittees, including the Labor, Parks, Planning and Housing Committee chaired by Democrat Peter Harckham, had undertaken an extensive review of the plan and were analyzing traffic impacts, environmental concerns and other issues.
