SPI takes step back from Playland deal

Sustainable Playland Inc., the Rye-based nonprofit set to take over management of Playland park, is taking a step back from its management deal due to uncertainty over its proposed implementation plan.

SPI, in a Monday letter from SPI President Kim Morque to the county executive”™s office, said it had spent $600,000 during the process so far and that it was “not a deep pocketed private corporation.”

“As such, it is neither realistic nor feasible to expect that SPI can remain committed to the project indefinitely,” Morque said. In response, the county Board of Legislators this morning decided to suspend its review process.

A proposed implementation plan was in the process of making its way through three county Board of Legislators subcommittees, but a legal challenge and a jurisdictional standoff threatened to derail the agreement before it ever came to a vote in the county legislative chambers.

Legislator Ken Jenkins, a Democrat, filed a lawsuit challenging the legality of the signed management deal between SPI and County Executive Rob Astorino, a Republican. Rye, the city where the county land that Playland sits on is located, asserted its zoning authority in a March 20 letter to the county, saying that Rye ”“ not Westchester ”“ would have to approve any zoning amendments.

Morque asked the county executive to offer SPI direction about whether the legal issues could be resolved and the plan be approved in the near future. “We remain hopeful that you can provide such assurances so that our public-private partnership can deliver on the goals of a restored Playland,” he said.

Critics of the project and neighbors of Playland had complained that the proposed implementation was flawed and would affect the character of the neighborhood due to a proposed 82,500-square-foot field house to be constructed at the park as part of the plan.

A  meeting of the county legislature’s Labor/Parks/Planning/Housing committee this morning was scheduled to discuss the implementation plan but was adjourned due to the uncertain status of the long-term commitment of SPI. Astorino’s office said it would schedule a leadership meeting with legislators and other parties by the end of the week to determine how to proceed.