Park it here: Huntington plans $4.2M upgrade to recreation facilities
Richard Holst Memorial Park on Saturday in Huntington Station. Credit: Debbie Egan-Chin
Parks across Huntington will be getting upgrades next year as a quality-of-life measure despite inflationary concerns, Town Supervisor Ed Smyth said.
Town officials said they are prepared to spend a total of approximately $4.2 million at several facilities — with the proposed amount subject to change as the year progresses.
During the 2023 budget process, Smyth said one of his challenges in creating a budget was inflationary pressures.
But he said Friday that maintenance of parks is an investment in the town and the sites are an integral part of the quality of life for residents, as evidenced during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Without the open space and regular attention to our parks, it would have left very little for people’s R & R and mental health,” Smyth added.
Prep work has already started at Depot Road Richard Holst Memorial Park on East 20th Street in Huntington Station. The park, where equipment was unsafe due to age and rot, will get a $192,000 renovation that is expected to begin next summer.
The upgrades are being paid for with a $175,000 town Environmental Open Space & Park Fund Advisory Committee grant and a $17,000 Huntington Community Development Agency grant. That project should finish two to four weeks after it starts.
Alfred J. Walker Memorial Park on West 11th Street in Huntington Station is getting a $1.2 million upgrade. The community park had fallen into disrepair until a trio of young men who played there as children lobbied the town to fix it.
The town will pay for upgrades there with $600,000 from the town’s Environmental Open Space & Park Fund Advisory Committee, a $600,000 bond and a $35,000 Huntington Community Development Agency grant.
That project is expected to begin in early 2023 and finish by summer, with about 8 to 12 weeks for completion.
Smyth said Whitman Park, Heckscher Park, Otsego Park, Fair Meadow Park, Kew Avenue Park, West Neck Beach and Halesite Park are also listed to receive some level of improvement next year.
