In an apparent response to a referendum initiative challenging the town’s plans to purchase the Roslyn Country Club property and create a town park, Town of North Hempstead Supervisor Jon Kaiman is considering a plan to finance the park by creating a special park district in Roslyn Heights.
Kaiman and Town Councilman Thomas Dwyer held a meeting with 42 residents in the Roslyn Country Club development on Thursday night to discuss the idea of creating a “hybrid” park district that would include a limited number of town residents from outside the development.
“The question is whether there’s some dynamic we could use to change the disposition of the property entirely,” Kaiman said at the outset of the meeting in the Royalton catering hall on the Roslyn Heights property off Roslyn Road.
Near the end of the meeting, he said creation of a special district – a concept promoted by critics of the town’s plan – “relieves the vitriol and the aggravation” from the issue.
Kaiman said a special district would include all residents who hold easements to the Roslyn Country Club facilities, including the pool and tennis courts. which are currently in disrepair. Under the plan, residents would pay for the projected $7.5 million in improvements to refurbish the pool and tennis courts in additional taxes of approximately $1,000 or $1,500 per year.
A portion of the taxes would pay for maintenance of the facilities.
Kaiman said residents from outside the community would also be admitted as members with their fees covering most of the maintenance costs.
“At the end of the day, anybody in the town could enjoy, but it would be limited to 700 or 800 people,” Kaiman said.
The town board recently voted 5-2 in a party-line vote with Democrats in support to acquire the 7.5-acre Roslyn Country Club property for $2 million and turn it into a town park facility open to all residents for annual membership fees in the $1,000 range. Kaiman projected the park would draw as many as 1,000 members. But critics expressed concerns that the membership fees would not cover the costs of the improvements and town taxpayers would end up footing the bill.
Civic association leaders from outside the Roslyn Heights then collected 4,300 signatures on petitions calling for a referendum that would allow voters to decide whether or not the town would go ahead witht the $7.5 million in improvements. The $2 million to purchase the Roslyn County Club property will come out of the town’s environmental legacy fund.
On Thursday night, Kaiman told Roslyn Heights residents the special district would draw unanimous support from the town board
Kaiman also told residents the tennis courts and pool could be made into a year-round indoor facility. He said the pool could be made an indoor pool for an additional $3 million “if you want to spend the money.”
The proposal comes as the petitions for the town-wide referendum are being contested in a court.
“We thought while this was winding its way through the courts, we would discuss it with the 668 residents,” Kaiman said.
Dwyers said the interest rate on the bond the town would issue to pay for the improvements would be between 3 percent and 3.5 percent annually.
“There’s no better time to do a project like this,” he said.
Dwyer said the town already had schematic plans for reconstruction of the pool and tennis courts “so we’re pretty close to being able to move ahead.”
In response to a question from one resident about the time required to create a special district, Kaiman said it could be done in “a couple of months.”
“We would want to know that the bulk of the community supports this,” he said.
When Kaiman asked how many of the resident at the meeting liked the concept, they all raised their hands.
Kaiman told residents at the meeting he would send a letter outlining the special-district plan to town residents in the next several days with a finished financial proposal for their review. He said residents’ reactions could be gauged in a public hearing or by canvassing residents.
After the meeting, Kaiman said he had asked Roslyn Country Club Civic Association officers Todd Zarin and Heather Schwartz to assemble 30 or 40 people for the meeting.
Zarin, who is president of the civic association, said he had reached out to friends and acquaintances and did not seek a representative sample of the community. Zarin said he hasn’t spoken to anyone in the community opposed to the idea. But he said he wanted to hear from community members with other ideas.
“I want to hear the challenges. We need our 700 neighbors to get a vibrant discussion going,” he said.
Roslyn Country Club resident Lloyd Gelb – who said he wasn’t invited to the meeting – offered an alternative view in a sharp exchange with Kaiman. Gelb suggested the town cede the land with the pool and the tennis courts to the civic association, which could hire a private developer to repair the facilities. He said the low interest rates on a bond would still translate to a debt service of $300,000 to $350,000 annually.
“I think you’re creating something where the zoning is not quite right,” Gelb said.
“I don’t agree with you. I’ve never agreed with you,” Kaiman said. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. In fact, I think it’s a bad idea.”
Gelb’s comments drew catcalls from the other residents, with some suggesting he sit down.
Dwyer said the total cost of the bond repayment would be $650,00 per year.
Edward Scott, president of the Albertson Civic Association – another uninvited attendee – said he thinks Kaiman’s special district plan holds merit, but added he wanted to see the financial details.
“If he sticks to what he says, it doesn’t sound like a bad idea,” Scott said. “I think we’re in the right direction for the people of Roslyn and the people in the Town of North Hempstead.”
Scott spearheaded the petition effort to force the issue of improvements to the Roslyn County Club facilities to a vote. He said he intended the petiition drive to prompt Kaiman to change his approach.
“We had to get petitions signed to force Mr. Kaiman to come around and consider a special park district,” Scott said.
Marianna Wohlgemuth, president of the Lakeville Estates Civic Association in New Hyde Park, who also led the petition effort, also reacted favorably to news of Kaiman’s proposal.
“It’s very heartening to know that the the town is listening to the residents and that they’re attempting to address the residents as well as the residents who live in the Roslyn Country Club area. We hope that it’s resolved in a manner in which everybody will be satisfied,” Wohlgemuth said.
Both Scott and Wohlgemuth had been among those who called for creation of a park district.
The town still faces the hurdle of convincing more than 200 residents of the area originally developed by Levitt & Sons to drop lawsuits against Manouchehr Malekan, the owner of the property. Those suits were filed invoking their easement rights granted when the development was built. Residents originally paid a fee of $100 for access to the pool and tennis court facilities.
Malekan has said the lawsuits must be dropped before the sale of the property.
Kaiman said on Thursday night the town would ask residents to “extinguish” their easement rights to the catering hall property, which Malekan would retain as part of the proposed deal.
