Playland’s future cast in doubt

Sustainable Playland Inc. said it isn”™t throwing in the towel just yet on its agreement to reinvent Playland park. SPI, a Rye-based nonprofit, said that by suspending its participation in the county”™s review process it was stepping back, not walking away.

Sustainable”™s president, Kim Morque, told the county in a letter Monday the group would be sitting on the sidelines until Westchester settled a turf dispute with Rye, the city where the property sits. Rye has asserted its zoning authority over any potential construction at Playland, which is owned by the county.

Geoff Thompson, a spokesman for SPI, said the group was concerned legal questions could derail the project or delay it, inflating the price tag for a nonprofit group that doesn”™t have “deep pockets.”

“We don”™t have any say what level of government has approval powers or what their role will be,” Thompson said. “We”™re not abandoning ship, but before we go any further, you guys need to come to some kind of understanding on this matter.”

Sustainable said in its Monday letter to the county it has already spent $600,000 in the planning phase.

The county Board of Legislators was on track to bring Playland”™s improvement plan to vote in May, while legislative committees conducted public hearings on the proposal and at times grilled SPI representatives. The aspects of the plan drawing the most scrutiny were the amount of parking and a large athletic field house SPI wanted to build for year-round use.

Rye residents and others said the field house was too large and the group reduced its initial vision of the field house to 82,500 square feet, which was still too large for its critics. The city has already hired Michael B. Gerrard, a high-profile environmental attorney with the New York City firm Arnold & Porter L.L.P. Gerrard, in a March 20 letter to the county, said the proposed field house was not in line with city zoning code, meaning the county would need to ask Rye for an amendment before building permits could be issued.

County Legislator Catherine Parker, a Democrat and former Rye councilwoman, said that may have signaled the beginning of the end for this latest chapter in the process.

“My sense was the letter Rye sent was going to be the straw that broke the camel”™s back,” she said. “Honestly, I wonder if this doesn”™t spell the end of SPI.” Parker defended the work of Sustainable”™s membership but said the entire process was flawed and that the city was left out of the loop after its government was initially supportive of the group.

SPI was chosen out of three finalists who bid to reinvent the 80-year-old amusement park that the county executive”™s office says runs in the red by as much as $4 million a year. The nonprofit started as a grassroots movement by Rye residents, originally proposing to eliminate about 30 percent of the park”™s rides and amusements in favor of a Great Lawn. After feedback from several county legislators and residents, the group agreed to nearly maintain the existing size of the amusement function but also shifted its focus to the field, a potential revenue generator necessary to maintain the park for 12 months a year.

Some neighbors and others who were initially receptive to SPI turned sour on it, saying the group was favoring private interest over what was best for the county. Thompson, the SPI spokesman, said he thought the group had gotten a bad rap. “Somehow SPI went from being the darlings of Rye to being treated like a developer,” he said.

Thompson categorized some of the opposition as coming from people who weren”™t against SPI, but would oppose any change at the park. “It”™s not like we turned a deaf ear to comments ”“ and frankly, criticisms ”“ but we”™ve responded,” he said.

County Legislator Peter Harckham, a Democrat who is chairman of the board”™s Labor, Parks, Planning and Housing Committee, adjourned a meeting to discuss the plan Tuesday in response to Sustainable”™s stepping back.

“Without dance partners, it will be a little challenging to dance,” he said. “I hope by working collaboratively we can get back on track.”

The county executive has asked to meet Friday with county board Chairman Michael Kaplowitz and city Mayor Joe Sack to try to clear up the legal issues. Astorino said maintaining the park as is would not be an option, nor would turning over to Rye approval rights to the property.

“Working within these parameters, there”™s wide flexibility for us to remove the legal clouds,” he said.

That meeting will seek to resolve the jurisdiction dispute and clear up uncertainty about the legality of the deal. Legislator Ken Jenkins, a Democrat and former board chairman, filed suit in December 2013 saying the agreement between Astorino and SPI was illegal because it did not receive approval from the Board of Legislators. The agreement was approved by the county”™s Board of Acquisition and Contract, but Jenkins contends the deal constituted a lease and by law a lease needs approval of the legislative branch.

If SPI ultimately backs out of the deal, county officials expect not to reopen the bidding process but instead reopen talks with the two other finalists: Central Amusements International and Standard Amusements, both of which have experience running amusement parks.