Oyster Bay settles with Peninsula Golf Club in deal blocking development on 50-acre course

The Town of Oyster Bay has agreed to settle a lawsuit it brought against the Peninsula Golf Club that effectively prohibits development on the 50-acre, nine-hole course.

The agreement, approved unanimously by Oyster Bay's Town Board on Tuesday, requires the site to remain a golf course. As part of the settlement, the town expects to rezone the property in East Massapequa from residential to recreational use. In 2021, the town voted to seize the privately owned course through eminent domain after a Florida-based firm sought to buy the property. 

The town started eminent domain proceedings in 2024. 

The settlement will ensure the course remains "a vital open space resource" for the neighborhood while minimizing "potential impacts due to coastal flooding by preventing new development" on the site, wrote Elizabeth Faughnan, a deputy town attorney, in a memo.

Nicholas DeSibio, president of P.G.C. Holding Corp., which operates Peninsula Golf Club, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. An attorney representing the club also did not respond to a request for comment. When contacted, the club declined to comment.

Town officials said that by settling, they were able to limit development on the property without having to pay a significant sum to purchase the course.

"This is great news for our community as we are permanently protecting this open space from development while saving the millions it would cost to acquire it," Oyster Bay Supervisor Joseph Saladino said in a statement.

The club has 60 days to execute the details of the agreement, which include a stipulation allowing the town to move forward with eminent domain seizure if the restrictions in the deal are violated. If the club receives an offer to buy the property, the town has the right of first refusal, according to the agreement.

Nassau County sold the golf course to Peninsula Golf Club Inc., a predecessor of the current owner, in 1946 for $1. That sale included covenants that restricted the property’s use in perpetuity to a golf course. Town Attorney Frank Scalera has said the county could rescind those restrictions, Newsday has reported.

The town has sought to curb the potential for housing on golf course properties. It approved changes in 2024 that limited the number of single-family homes that could be built on some private golf courses. Attorneys for those courses opposed the measure, arguing it would reduce the properties' value. The town did not include Peninsula Golf Course in that rezoning effort.

The town’s push to rezone golf courses comes amid a wider trend of golf course redevelopment that’s been prompted by declining membership and financial challenges, officials have said.

John Guerriero, president of the Nassau Shores Civic Association, said in a statement that he supported the settlement.

Guerriero said he was pleased the town had "ensured that Peninsula Golf Course will finally be rezoned to recreational, mandating that it will forever remain a golf course and never again be under the threat of development."

By Joseph Ostapiuk

joseph.ostapiuk@newsday.com@OstapiukJ