Concerns grow in Glen Cove over the future of the YMCA

Less than five months before the Glen Cove YMCA's lease with its nonprofit landlord expires, the Y has yet to obtain a long-term renewal, spurring increasing fears that the facility may close.

The YMCA of Long Island, which oversees the Glen Cove Y, and the owner of the site at 125 Dosoris Lane, the Glen Cove Neighborhood Association, have been negotiating for months over the lease amid upheaval on the Glen Cove Y's board and residents' pleas for a resolution to the dispute.

"The Y is going to look for another location, and the city is going to lose a gem," resident and Glen Cove Y member Ron Menzel said at last week's City Council meeting.

Jay Jacobs, the Nassau County Democratic Party chairman who owns seven children's camps on Long Island and upstate, said board members of the neighborhood association approached him several months ago to gauge his interest in running the facility as a separate nonprofit if negotiations with the Y fail.

Jacobs, who said in an interview that he would rather see the Y maintain control, said board members told him they were talking with other potential replacement operators as well.

The association's board president, Nicholas L. Martone, said in an email that it "would be inappropriate" to comment amid negotiations over the facility.

Anne Brigis, president and chief executive of the YMCA of Long Island, which is headquartered at the Glen Cove site, did not return phone calls for comment. She said in a statement that the Y wants a long-term lease because it is planning a "significant infrastructure investment."

Glen Cove Y advisory board member Paul Sweeney said people involved in negotiations told him the association has declined to offer a long-term lease.

Sweeney was appointed to the board in May, several months after the YMCA of Long Island removed 13 of its 20 members after they wrote a letter expressing concerns about the Long Island Y's leadership.

Eve Lupenko, one of the dismissed members, said she and others objected to what she characterized as the Long Island Y usurping power from Y officials in Glen Cove over financial, personnel and program decisions.

Renee Robles, 77, said Thursday afternoon as she was arriving at the Y for a workout that she was unaware of the lease problems and doesn't care who runs the facility as long as it remains top-notch.

But Lina Cernigliaro, 74, who was taking her 4-year-old granddaughter to summer camp at the Y, said she trusts the YMCA and would be nervous about another group taking over.

Glen Cove Mayor Reginald Spinello said he's convinced the Y and its landlord won't allow the facility to shut down at year's end.

"Both care about the residents and the membership and neither one is going to let that happen," he said.