Playland turf dispute only latest snag for SPI

A dispute over who has zoning jurisdiction over Playland is just the latest twist in a process with more ups and downs than the Dragon Coaster itself.

An April 3 meeting between Westchester County and city of Rye officials didn”™t forge consensus over who has approval authority for any construction at the park: the county, which owns the park, or the city, where the Playland property is located.

Sustainable Playland Inc., the nonprofit chosen by the county to reinvent the park, has removed itself from Westchester”™s review process until the municipalities work out who is calling the shots.

Rye government changed course after it initially unanimously endorsed the proposed plan to redevelop areas of the park from SPI, a group formed by city residents. The aspect of the plan drawing the loudest criticisms was a proposal to build a 82,500-square-foot field house for year-round use, which opponents said was too large for the neighborhood and encroached too much upon existing parking at Playland.

Last month, Rye City Council retained an attorney, asserted its authority over the plan and told the county it would have to petition for an amendment to the city zoning code if the field house were to be built. Geoff Thompson, a spokesman for SPI, said that some time during the process the group lost the support of some people who were initially pro-Sustainable.

“People got focused on the field house and parking issues, and they”™ve lost track of what the vision was,” he said. Thompson said the group was community-minded and had modified its plan in response to input from residents and officials. The size of the field house was reduced from its initial conception, and the original plan, which reduced the size of the amusement area by 30 percent, was modified to mostly keep that area intact.

“The vision has not changed; you may hear people say it has changed, but it hasn”™t,” he said. “It has evolved.”

Although the field house became a rallying point for the opposition, critics took issue with other aspects of the plan. Some even called into question SPI”™s financials and its ability to produce the capital needed to run the park. Port Chester resident Deirdre Curran, who has opposed the choice of SPI, is critical of Sustainable backing out of the review process.

“Who goes to a job interview and tells the company, ”˜I don”™t like how you”™re conducting the interview process,”™” she said. She called it a “cop out” that SPI stepped back from the deal just as county legislators began asking questions about the group”™s financial projections. Curran said she was “appalled” by what she felt was a lack of concrete detail in the implementation plan this far along the process.

“Everything is still up in the air, and ”˜we could look at this and look at that”™ and everything is still up for discussion,” she said. Curran said she was in favor of the county handing over management of Playland to one of the other finalists who bid for the deal: Central Amusements International and Standard Amusements, both of which have experience managing amusement parks.

Ned McCormack, communications director for Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino, said no more formal meetings were set between Astorino and Joe Sack, the mayor of Rye. McCormack said that discussions would continue with the goal of the two sides finding common ground within the parameters set by Astorino. The executive had said that the county wouldn”™t give up zoning authority on its property and that both sides had to remain committed to a new deal for Playland, which McCormack said runs in the red annually by as much as $4 million.

“The status quo is not an option,” he said.

Charmian Neary, a Rye resident, said she agreed things needed to change at Playland, with investment in rides and needed repairs to deteriorating buildings. Neary said she believed the park could turn a profit in the hands of the right management company but that running in the black shouldn”™t be the No. 1 priority. Most parks, she noted, run at an expense to the municipality that owns them.

“To save Playland is to save the amusement park; it”™s not to take a county park and make it profitable,” she said.

Updated: This article was updated from its original version, which incorrectly listed Deirdre Curran’s residence. She moved from Rye last year and is now a Port Chester resident.