Nassau County parkland to remain county parkland (Updated)

                                                                               

From Mapquest.com

Syosset voters last week killed a $10.5 million deal for Nassau to transfer ownership of 35 acres of the county's Stillwell Woods Preserve to the Syosset School District. 

Defeated by 89 votes, the deal called for the county to pay the school district $3 million toward improving a portion of the 270-acre North Shore preserve. The school district was going to pitch in $7.5 million  - taking $2 million from reserve funds while borrowing $5.5 million -- to create a "state of the art" athletic facility.

What? Where did this come from?

Giving away county parkland or even licensing its use has always been a big deal in the past.

But nothing about Stillwell Woods was presented publicly to the county legislature, which must vote on any transfer of county land.

And there was no vote by the state legislature, which must approve any "alienation" of public parkland.

The deal was promoted by Legis. Josh Lafazan, a former member of the Syosset School Board. Lafazan  of Woodbury is not enrolled in any party but caucuses and votes with Democrats on the county legislature.

On his Facebook page, before last Tuesday's school district election, Lafazan urged yes votes on two propositions that would have authorized the school district to take conveyance of the 35-acre parcel and to improve it.

Josh Lafazan

"When I took office, Syosset parents asked me to make fixing Stillwell - a county-owned property - a priority. I heard the community's concerns, and in 2019 I secured $3 Million in funding to fix this property," Lafazan wrote. 

"This project is personal for me – over 20 years ago I grew up playing on Stillwell Fields, which is the only major field that services thousands of children in Syosset Soccer, Baseball, Flag Football and Lacrosse. This agreement means that our community is finally on a secure path to constructing the state-of-the-art sports and recreational facility we deserve,” Lafazan said in a Syosett School District press release published before the vote in the Syosset Advance. 

Transferring ownership of county land is not uncommon, of course.

Nassau legislators in the past have transferred parks or licensed their use to as a way to cut maintenance costs or raise revenues.

Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi in 2007 proposed transferring the county's Hempstead Harbor Park to North Hempstead, which owned the adjoining Bar Beach Park, enabling the town to combine the two parks into one large, town-maintained recreational facility.

County Executive Ed Mangano in 2013 proposed leasing a ballfield in county-owned Mitchel Park to Molloy College under a novel legal theory developed by then County Attorney John Ciampoli that the license agreement was not alienation of parkland.

Both deals were debated and scrutinized by the county legislature before they were approved.

But the transfer of 35 acres of Stillwell Woods Preserve stayed under the radar.

Stillwell Woods itself stays pretty much under the county's radar as well.

This is all the county says about it on its website:

"A 270-acre preserve and multiple-use area, Stillwell Woods offers a blend of old field and oak barrens communities, the latter of which includes plants and animals that are more typical of habitats farther east on Long Island. The Nassau-Suffolk Greenbelt Trail for hikers runs through the preserve; there are also bicycle trails and equestrian trails."

On Tuesday, the Syosset plan failed: The proposition to convey the property to the school district was narrowly approved by 13 votes: 1,488 yes to 1,475 nos.

But a proposition to improve the land lost by 89 votes: 1,437 to 1526.

The school district announced Tuesday night: "For the project to move forward, both propositions needed to pass. Therefore the conveyance of the Stillwell Fields property will not take place."

County officials contend the school district vote was conditional on the county legislature subsequently approving the deal. But neither the propositions, nor the school district's press release, nor Lafazan's Facebook page mentioned that the transfer was conditional on subsequent legislative approval. 

Update:  Correction. The school website under the heading "Voting Information" says, "The transfer of the property must also be approved by the county legislature and a bill must be passed at the State Legislature." See screen shot below.

Like most county legislators, Lafazan is running for re-election in November. 

Paolo Pironi and proposition opponents

His Republican opponent Paola Pironi on Thursday took a victory lap, celebrating the plan's defeat with other opponents, calling it  "a backroom deal" to shift county costs onto 19,000 Syosset taxpayers. He even called for an ethics investigation into Lafazan's role in the project.

In a news release,  Pironi said, "We are outraged by the lack of communication and transparency to residents from our officials. The public had a little more than a month to learn about this wild spending plan and many never even received any notice. During a pandemic, when residents are facing pay-cuts, layoffs and worrying about whether we will receive our fair share from Albany, the last thing we need is to be spending millions on sports complexes.”

Lafazan did not respond to a request for comment.

 

From Syossetschools.org