Bill to create Belmont advisory board reaches governor

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has until the end of the month to sign into law a bill that would create a Belmont Park Advisory Board, after both houses of the State Legislature passed it in June.

The decade-old bill was re-introduced in January by Assemblywoman Michaelle Solages and Sen. Anna Kaplan to establish a body that would give local residents a voice at Belmont Park, like those that exist at both the Saratoga and Aqueduct racetracks. “This ensures parity between all three” New York Racing Association tracks, Solages, a Democrat from Elmont, previously told the Herald. “Both Saratoga and the Aqueduct have active community panels, and I look forward to seeing the same thing in our community.”

The board would comprise 15 members. The Nassau County executive can name five, four of whom must be from Elmont. The Town of Hempstead supervisor can appoint two additional Elmont residents. NYRA can appoint three members; the Village of Floral Park and Queens Community Board 13, two; and the Village of South Floral Park, one. “It really does activate all the different communities,” Kaplan, a Democrat from Great Neck, noted.

As with the Saratoga and Aqueduct boards, the Belmont board would be able to present public endorsements or rejections of the latest developments at the racetrack, and would have to meet at least twice a year to discuss Belmont Park happenings and provide input from the local community to the state’s Franchise Oversight Board, which oversees NYRA.

Elmont residents have been lobbying local officials for such a board since the Franchise Oversight Board formed the local advisory boards at Saratoga and Aqueduct in 2008, but not at Belmont. “It was supposed to be implemented 10 years ago,” said Tammie Williams, of the Belmont Park Community Coalition.

Last October, she also submitted a letter to local officials questioning why Belmont was omitted from the original bill, and saying a local advisory board, “should have the opportunity to build a working relationship with the members of the Franchise Oversight Board, The New York Racing Association, Empire State Development Corp., Nassau County and the Town of Hempstead Planning and Economic Development Commission in the implementation of comprehensive planning and rezoning to preserve and enhance the historic Belmont Park Racetrack and its immediately surrounding neighborhoods.”