Heckscher pool, campground will not open

Heckscher State Park's pool and campground will not open this year, primarily because of budget constraints, officials said Wednesday.

But the parks agency said no other service reductions are envisioned at state parks on Long Island this summer for financial or other reasons. .

While not opening the pool is strictly a financial decision, the campground closing also is a public-health issue. The campground closed early last year, on July 17, after Suffolk health officials found mosquitoes at the park carrying West Nile virus. And the county has continued to recommend that there be no evening activity there, said Dan Keefe, spokesman for the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.

With reduced agency funding and staffing, "we have to be smart about using our limited resources," Keefe said.

Closing the entire park or at least its pool was considered last year when then-Gov. David A. Paterson was looking to slash state spending. But ultimately the pool remained open, except for Mondays and Tuesdays, and attracted about 400 people a day.

The pool was built in 1969 and Keefe said leaks in its plumbing allow as much as 20,000 gallons of water per day to escape into the ground.

Keefe said consultants have recommended replacing the pool farther from the bay because of shoreline erosion. But he added there is no cost estimate for that project and the department does not have any money to do it.

He said pool users could still swim in the bay and some pool lifeguards will protect the beach.

Keefe said there was no calculation of the savings from closing the pool and campground.

Heckscher has 69 campsites for tents and vehicles. Camping will continue at Wildwood, which has 322 sites, and Hither Hills, which has 168.

Robin Dropkin, executive director of Parks & Trails New York, an Albany-based advocacy group, called the closings "a microcosm of the whole system that needs $1 billion in repairs and infrastructure rehabilitation."