Public Discussion on Future of Sunken Meadow State Park Set For March 3

New York State Park Officials are planning the future of the Governor Alfred E. Smith/ Sunken Meadow State Park starting with a meeting to be held with the public on March 3rd at Kings Park High School.

This will be the first stage of the process where park officials will invite the public to comment on the park’s use and changes that they may want to see implemented as well as establish a baseline of the park history and what does and doesn’t work.

“We want to find out what they think. We take full consideration of what the public wants,” said Ron Foley, Regional Director for the State of Office, Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.

Public comment such as the one slated for Sunken Meadow has taken place for two other Long Island parks; Caumsett State Historic Park in Huntington and Hallock State Park Preserve in Northville. The discussion on Hallock drew about 50 people, while Caumsett attracted about 100. Foley believes both sessions with the public were successful.

“With Caumsett, the message from the public was, we love it, don’t change it. That drove the decision to make it a park preserve.”
Foley isn’t guessing on how the turnout will be for the Sunken Meadow plan but says it depends on the passion people have for the park.

“Sunken Meadow is different than Caumsett. Sunken Meadow has more of a weekend, New York City crowd and a more local crowd on the weekdays,” he said.

Kings Park Civic President, Sean Lehmann, is not surprised that a master plan is in the works for the park and believes it will be interesting to hear some new ideas at the public meeting.

“The main issue we have been hearing from the local community is that the park’s infrastructure is in need of a major upgrade,” said Lehman.

Kings Park resident, Linda Henninger who runs the website, The Park Advocate agrees and believes that it is about time that a plan was put in place.

“Every park should have one. Plans keep people accountable,” she said.

The park’s 1,287 acres provides many recreational opportunities such as golfing, swimming and kayaking and sees about 2.5 million visitors annually. There is also a three quarter mile section of beach that provides swimming in the Long Island Sound and according to officials is one of the Long Island region’s most heavily used park.

According to officials comments will be accepted until April 4 of this year. A draft of the master plan will be made to address those issues. A final proposal is expected in January of 2012 and should be adopted by February.

John Kowalchyk. Special Assistant to Commissioner of Parks says that nothing has been decided yet and that a team goes back and develops a plan after the public comments.

“Another meeting will be held for input and formal comment where we present what we have. Meetings like this will continue and are planned for the future,’ said Kowalchyk.