KPP Parkland Alienation Legislation Withdrawn from NYS Senate

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 10, 2026

Contact: Jody Kass Finkel - JodyKass@yahoo.com

KPP PARKLAND ALIENATION LEGISLATION WITHDRAWN FROM NYS SENATE

Residents say: “We can’t trust Martins. They’re still trying to take our parkland and hide it from us.”

Senator Jack Martins’ bill (S7868A) to convert nearly 2.5 acres of Kings Point Park into a private parking lot was withdrawn (‘stricken’), and is now effectively dead. The proposed parkland alienation legislation, along with the regulatory and legislative processes related to it, lacked transparency, integrity and legality. The entire attempt to alienate the parkland was shrouded in secrecy, and hidden from Great Neck residents. Martins’ legislation rested on a bogus environmental review that stated the alienation would have no significant impact on the community. (The environmental review lacked documentation, the wrong form was used, and Parts 2 and 3 were never submitted). In October, after being sued by the community, the Village of Kings Point agreed to nullify their environmental review and to ask Martins to withdraw his alienation legislation.

Stephen Limmer, the lawyer for the Village of Kings Point, said in February, that the Village knew of the problems with the initial environmental review that was conducted by the Village of Kings Point. Nevertheless, the Village issued a Negative Declaration and Senator Jack Martins, who failed to conduct due diligence, convinced his colleagues in the Senate to pass the legislation last spring, but it stalled in the Assembly.

Martins’ legislation was automatically re-introduced into the Senate (Local Government Committee) when the Legislature re-convened in January 2026, and the Great Neck community has been concerned that Martins would try to sneak it through again without the proper evaluation or community engagement.

While today’s withdrawal of the alienation legislation is important, the effort to alienate the parkland for a private parking lot is not over. Despite the enormous distrust caused by the lack of transparency, the Village of Kings Point recently hired a consultant to conduct a new environmental review of the potential impacts of the parkland alienation. Unfortunately, the secrecy about the scope of the review and their unwillingness to engage the community continues.

Going forward, the good government group, Concerned Citizens of NY-03, calls on Sen. Martins to stop undermining the public’s right to a transparent evaluation of the environmental impacts of the proposed alienation, and to commit to requiring that the Village hold public scoping sessions and public hearings ahead of any new legislative requests, so he can understand the community’s strong opposition.

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Concerned Citizens of NY-03 formed in 2023 following revelations that George Santos had fabricated his resume and defrauded voters and donors. The group had a strong hand in Santos' historic expulsion from Congress. In Dec. 2023, following Santos’ ouster, CC-03 transitioned into a good government organization to advance our core values of integrity, transparency, accountability, and effective leadership. Find us on Facebook ● Instagram ● Twitter:/X ● Bluesky