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Cedar Creek Plans on the Horizon
by Laura Schofer

Originally published in the 2009 August 20 edition of The Wantagh-Seaford Citizen.
Published online with kind permission from our friends at The Citizen.

Big plans are brewing for the re-development of Cedar Creek Park in Seaford, a county park that had a face-lift in 2004 but now faces a shutdown because of the county’s ongoing financial problems, including an $11.5 million budget gap this year. The project would include four new turf fields, a spray park adjacent to the children’s park, three new soccer fields, a miniature golf course, a two-level 900-foot driving range, a 110,000 foot indoor sports complex with turf fields, locker rooms and a cardio fitness center as well as concessions stands. There will also be go-cart facilities behind the Cedar Creek water treatment facility where the police impound lot now exists. The aerodrome will remain as will the tether court.

The proposed Go-Cart Track at Cedar Creek is located behind the sewage treatment plant and about 300 feet east of the Wantagh State Parkway.

A public/private partnership
Nassau County Deputy Executive Ian Siegel said this project is an example of the kind of public/private partnerships that can benefit taxpayers and a private developer. The project will provide the county with additional revenue and a brand new park for the public without any outlay of money or resources.

Principal developers Philip Tavella and Ike Goldstein of IP Development of Bellmore, will make money on the investment by providing enhanced services to patrons willing to pay for them. Those services include the con<<Selection in Document>>cession stands, the miniature golf course and driving range, facilities inside the sports complex, and the go-cart track that includes a family fun center, a corporate go-cart area and conference center and a third go cart track for two and modified four-cylinder gas powered go-carts for any one over the age of five.

Mr. Tavella told The Citizen that IP Development was created specifically for this project and “future projects like this.” Mr. Tavella is also a principal in Diversified Financial Consultants of Bellmore. “But this is a separate project and no one from Diversified is involved.”

Mr. Tavella said the project will cost approximately $24 million. “We have hedge fund managers who will buy a percentage of this project and will get a return based on the number of years they are involved,” said Mr. Tavella.

“I’m also creating 193 jobs,” said Mr. Tavella, including security and maintenance for the park. “I think that in these tough financial times, the public/private model is essential in keeping taxes down and providing essential and enhanced services to residents,” said Mr. Siegel.

But not everyone agrees. Bruce Piel, executive director of ParcNassau, a watchdog group in Nassau County that keeps its eye on park developments, said, “This is strictly a money-making scheme and the taxpayers will lose out. You don’t need to turn our parks into an amusement park; that’s not what they are for. Our parks are supposed to be green open spaces for the enjoyment of the public.”

I’m also creating 193 jobs...

Philip Tavella
IP Development

Our parks are supposed to be green open spaces...

Bruce Piel
ParcNassau

Dolores Annarella, a retired parks employee who has worked at Cedar Creek Park and Wantagh Park for the past 10 years, told The Citizen that “This is all about dollars. Cedar Creek is not a money-making park. We take in about $50,000 a year in revenue but the park is used by about 500,000 people a year. The county forgets this is suburbia and we love our gorgeous parks.”

The county’s Ian Siegel said that this project could bring in “about one million dollars in revenue a year [for the county].” “We are not taking away any services already available at the park,” added Mr. Tavella, “only improving upon what’s there. In addition to the fields, I’m putting in a spray park and that’s free, at no cost to the residents. It’s a big park and a lot of the space is underutilized.”

A park for special needs children
In addition, Mr. Tavella will provide time each day for families that have children with special needs to use the miniature golf course, facilities at the sports complex and the go cart track free of charge. Additionally, Autism United, a 501c3 (nonprofit organization) working with Nassau County will have a dedicated 1,000-square-foot space in the sports complex for special needs programs.

Mr. Tavella said there would also be dedicated space in the outdoor fields for special needs children to participate in sports-related activities. Mr. Tavella has a special needs child and “wanted to provide a space for children like my son. I read about the county’s problems and I approached them.”

Mr. Siegel confirmed that a request for proposals (RFP) was created after Mr. Tavella approached the county. “No one else responded to our RFP,” said Mr. Siegel. Darlene Capobianco, a Wantagh resident and the police officer director of the Special Needs Unit of the Nassau County Police Activity League, supports the redevelopment project at Cedar Creek. “We need more fields for children with special needs to use,” she told The Citizen.

John Gilmore, executive director of Autism United, also supports the proposed new Cedar Creek Park development. He said “the developers approached us early on to work with them to develop programs for special needs children.” He explained that children with autism, ADD, ADHD and learning disabilities may have communication, social interaction and sometimes cognitive deficits that preclude participation in mainstream sports and recreational programs.

“There is a real need for this and a real benefit to the whole community at no cost,” said Mr. Gilmore. The fields at Cedar Creek, including a summer baseball camp run by the Mets baseball team, will help to address these issues for special needs children, as well as the dedicated space inside the sports facility for a number of special needs programs.

Quality of life and the Go-Cart Track
The proposed go-cart track complex has three different types of go-carts: a family fun center with eight go-carts at any one time, an indoor/outdoor corporate go-cart facility with 16 go-carts, and a track for two and four-cylinder gas powered go-carts for anyone over the age of five with 30 go-carts. There would be 32 special needs go-carts. Mr. Tavella said “The go-carts are very quiet and have a modified exhaust to address the noise issue.”

The corporate go-carts would have limited hours and “you must wear a helmet and race gear and take a lesson. Hours will be restricted,” he said. The go-cart track would be behind the sewage treatment plant and just to the north of the aerodrome. The track would be 1,500 feet from the nearest house and includes a 35-foot berm between the houses and the track. “It’s very quiet,” said Mr. Tavella. You can’t really hear them when you are 30 feet away.”

What is the decibel level?
“The county has the engineer’s report,” said Mr. Tavella. Deputy County Executive Siegel said, “These are special cars with low noise emissions. We are still looking into the noise issue. The go-cart track is not in a residential area.” But Joe Scotto is one of the flyers who uses the aerodrome and lives on Wyanet Street in Seaford, about a mile from the proposed go-cart track. “How can you say this won’t be noisy? It’s very noisy. As a neighbor I’m concerned about the noise factor. I can hear when they hit the tennis balls. Of course we’ll hear the go-carts. They are making us promises but I don’t believe it. The noise and speed are part of the hobby. This is going to be a fiasco.”

Jill Bromberg of Merrick has a 10-year-old son who enjoys go-carting and she plans to take her son to this new track. “The noise isn’t too bad. I live near Sunrise Highway and I hear all the traffic and the trains. It’s sort of like that, background noise,” she said. “Without the go-cart track I will not do this project,” said Mr. Tavella. “I’m providing a lot to the public – the fields, the spray park, security and maintenance.”

And what does the public think?
“We haven’t seen enough details to this project to support it. The proposal is still too vague and the public is still unaware about the project,” said Ella Stevens, president of the Wantagh-Seaford Homeowners Association (WSHA). Phil Franco, WSHA treasurer, added, “Mr. Tavella made his presentation to the board in the spring but we needed more details. The devil’s in the details. Most people don’t know about this project or the go-cart track. . .I don’t know how the public will react.”

Tony Polio, president of the Merokee Radio Club, who represents the flyers at the aerodrome, said, “We are always concerned about any development over which we fly. We had a meeting with the county and learned about this deal. We are trying to work with them. We are not happy about turning the park into a commercial operation. But they will stay north of our boundary and we can live with it.”

The county’s Mr. Siegel said “there is still a lot of work to be done on this proposal. We must go through an entire environmental assessment and will address all the issues. We plan to ask the developer to present his proposal to the public sometime this fall. Then we can move forward.”

Copyright © 2009 The Wantagh-Seaford Citizen & LI Dot. All rights reserved.

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