Kings Point Park 10-year lease agreement will benefit district, village and residents, officials say

The 173-acre Kings Point Park will be operating for another 10 years, and possibly much longer, after the Great Neck Park District and the Village of Kings Point came to terms on a new lease, park and village officials said.

The district, which has managed the park with no lease since 2015, reached an agreement with the village after a year of negotiations, park district Superintendent Jason Marra said at last Wednesday's meeting. District residents will be able to continue using the park and the district has agreed to pay the village $350,000 annually. Village and park officials said both parties obtained separate appraisals before coming to that number.

During the eight years with no lease agreement, the district paid about $37,000 annually, officials said. Kings Point owns the land and has a long-standing agreement with the park district, which manages the grounds.

“While the significant increase is consistent with, in fact lower than the appraised value, we are comfortable that park district residents are obtaining a fair value,” Marra said.

Kings Point will require the park district to obtain $15 million in bonds for improvements within the first two years of the agreement. Kings Point Park will get $10 million, and the balance can be used to improve other parks in the district.

The lease also allows the park district to extend the agreement for three additional 10-year terms, totaling 40 years.

Marra noted the village had the option to terminate the lease if bond financing is not obtained. But, he added, if the village terminates the lease early, or fails to renew, Kings Point will be required to reimburse the park district for any improvements and pay $10 million.

Some residents expressed concern about the bonding clause in the lease, including Sabine Margolis, who said she believed the lease was “designed to fail.”

“In general, I’m happy we have a lease, but I’m disappointed that the terms were not friendly for the neighborhood," Margolis, 58, said.

Kings Point Mayor Kouros Torkan called the park a gem, adding the park is now underused. The park needs improvements, he said, and that’s why the bonding clause was put into the lease agreement. He also addressed rumors of potential development on the land.

“None of the values that we want are for redevelopment,” Torkan said at the meeting. “It’s ludicrous. It’s parkland. It’s going to remain parkland."

The park district has a list of about 27 potential projects for the park, including walking and bike trails, parking areas, forest restoration, adult fitness equipment, pickleball courts and dog parks. The projects, which have been preapproved by the village, are not now in the works and, if proposed, will be subject to public input, Marra said.

Earlier in the week, Margolis and 20 other residents rallied at Kings Point Park to protest the cleanup of the area, which they said violated state law since parts of the area are protected wetlands. Piles of logs and naturally downed trees were found near the entrance.

On July 19, a police officer with the Department of Environment Conservation inspected the park and issued a ticket for “unpermitted activity in a regulated freshwater wetland,” according to the DEC. The enforcement process is ongoing, the agency added.

At the meeting, Marra said the previous and new lease required the district to remove fallen trees and branches.

Residents expressed concerns about natural habitats and wildlife being disrupted by the cleanup. 

“We have to save what little forest we have …” said Daniel Capruso, 60, of Great Neck. “To see wetland or forest damaged in any way is something I’m concerned about, and I don’t want to see that happen.”