Town Renovates 3 Parks In St. James, Nesconset After 15 Years

SMITHTOWN, NY - The Town of Smithtown unveiled three parks in Nesconset and St. James that underwent much needed renovations this week.

Supervisor Ed Wehrheim led the three ribbon cutting ceremonies to celebrate the renovations joined by Town Councilman Tom McCarthy, Councilwoman Lynne Nowick, Councilwoman Lisa Inzerillo, Councilman Tom Lohmann, Legislator Leslie Kennedy, Legislator Rob Trotta and Comptroller John Kennedy.

On Monday the Nesconset community gathered to celebrate the renovations of Gibbs Pond Park.

Renovations at park included a brand new state-of-the-art playground, interactive playhouses, turf resurfacing, brand new fence around the children’s park, sidewalk and landscaping.

In 2019, a LED user friendly crosswalk is scheduled to be installed by the traffic safety department along with completely handicapped accessible washrooms.

After the ribbon cutting ceremony at Gibbs Pond Park, the Nesconset Civic Association served up Ray’s Italian Ices to the children and residents.

Then on Wednesday, residents of St James participated in the ribbon cutting ceremonies for both Gaynor Park and Veterans Memorial Park (Moriches Park).

Gaynor Park before renovations

Gaynor Park after renovations

Gaynor Park tennis court before renovations

Gaynor Park after renovations

Moriches Park before renovations

Renovations at Veterans Memorial Park include new, soft surface installed in the waterpark at the request of parents who were complaining about scraped knees from the original concrete ground.

Veteran's Memorial Park before renovations

Veteran's Memorial Park after renovations

The playground has been completely renovated, resurfaced and fenced.

Additional concrete sidewalks have been added and the addition of a LED user friendly crosswalk is scheduled to be installed by the traffic safety department, to be complete this year.

An interactive spring rider has been donated by Lowe’s in Stony Brook, courtesy of Lowe’s store manager Monica Welter, and Lowe’s exterior sales Frederick Coglietta.

Veteran's Memorial Park after renovations

Gaynor Park renovations includes two fully fenced in tennis courts, basketball courts with new fence installation.

Gaynor Park after renovations

A brand new playground and picnic area with new and improved resurfacing and a safety fence around the children’s park.

The washrooms have been refurbished which will now be handicapped accessible.

Brand new sidewalks, 10,000 square feet of fully irrigated sod and new guardrails have also been installed around the park.

The three park renovations were completed with approximately $60,000 under budget. The balance will go to towards repairs at various other parks throughout the town.

"We’re making long term investments, rather than patching up repairs which cost three times the amount of taxpayer dollars than it would to modernize and maintain," Lohmann said. "These renovations at our parks and beaches gives back the community our hard earned tax dollars and provides a quality of life that our fellow neighbors and family members expect if not exceed."

All three parks hadn’t seen major repairs in more than 15 years.

"I made a promise when I was sworn in, to bring our parks here in Smithtown, back to their original charm," Wehrheim said. "This is the start of fulfilling that promise and nothing can make me happier, than seeing our future generations enjoy our pristine parks like they are here today.

Photos courtesy of Town of Smithtown