Delayed opening for Bay Park fields, dog run

Last summer, Nassau County Deputy Executive Rob Walker announced that portions of Bay Park, including a dog run nd ball fields used by local youth sports organizations, would be closed for renovations and reopen this March. Due to inclement weather that has thrown construction off schedule, however, county officials now say the park’s reopening will be delayed until late summer.

“The Eastern Park will be complete in August of 2015,” said Mary Studdert, a county spokeswoman. “The delays resulted from rain events this past fall and drainage issues, the extreme weather over the past several months and the relocation of unforeseen buried utilities.”

The Eastern Park has been most impacted by the construction. The baseball and softball fields used by the East Rockaway Little League, soccer fields, tennis courts, basketball courts, a dog run and a walking path along East Rockaway Channel have all been closed since last July. They will remain so until August, when new synthetic fields will be unveiled.

Studdert said that the construction, which cost roughly $7 million and was paid for with public-assistance funds awarded to Nassau County by the Federal Emergency Management Agency after Hurricane Sandy, would improve the fields and allow local youth sports organizations to make better use of the park. “All organizations will benefit from the new fields and courts,” she said. “Synthetic fields allow for greater usage during and after rainfall than the former natural fields.”

Sean Lynch, president of the East Rockaway Little League, said that while the promise of new fields is exciting, the delay will cause major problems for local teams in the meantime. “It’s definitely a pretty major inconvenience,” he said. “I don’t want to make too much out of it — we’ll still be able to play — but it’s definitely going to have some significant effects on us.”