Nassau County’s Attempt to Acquire the Levittown Grandstand Motor Parkway Section From 2009 to 2011

On Wednesday, October 3, 2012,  property owners will be petitioning the Hempstead Town Board to rezone a Levittown section of the former Long Island Motor Parkway and location of the Vanderbilt Cup Race grandstand and press box to build a 50-unit condominium complex.

As reported on VanderbiltCupRaces.com, over the last three years, Nassau County attempted to acquire the property for part of the Motor Parkway Trail.

In 2009 and 2010, I was part of a working group to assist in the development of  the Motor Parkway Trail, a continuous mult-use trailway through Nassau County utilizing, when possible, the route of the Long Island Motor Parkway. During the Trailway meetings, it was recommended that the Levittown grandstand section of the Motor Parkway would be an ideal location for a pilot greenway. Nassau County made inquiries to purchase the property from Josato, Inc.. Unfortunately, the attempts to purchase the land were unsuccessful.

Last month,  Brian Schneider of the Nassau County Department of Public Works, who participated in the discussions with the property owners Josato, Inc., commented:

"Nassau County Department of Real Estate Planning and Development reached out to Josato, Inc. and their attorney William Cohn several times over the last three years to initiate negotiations for the purchase of the property and were rebuffed each time”.

Mr. Schneider also provided an update on the Motor Parkway Trail project:

"The project at this point is focusing on the construction of a 1 mile stretch of trail to be built on the south side of Salisbury Park Drive between Carman Avenue and Stewart Avenue. This is considered a “demonstration project” to show how an along the roadway trail can be built as an example throughout the project in certain places.  The 40% design plans have just been transmitted to my office for review.  We anticipate that this section will be built in early 2013."

The public meeting concerning the Levittown grandstand property will be held at the Hempstead Town Hall, 1 Washington Street on Wednesday, Oct. 3, 2012 beginning at 10:30 AM.

I encouraged all involved people to attend the meeting and express their opinions.

Enjoy,

Howard Kroplick