By MIKE RUSSO
The county is seeking to lease the property, which has been condemned, to a not-for-profit organization or educational corporation for the development of outdoor recreational facilities. According to county officials, the county will not consider a proposal that does not include such facilities.
Molloy, in neighboring Rockville Centre, first became aware of the Coes Neck property and its condemned status in 2004, according to the college's vice president, Ed Thompson. Thompson said that the college wants to augment its athletic facilities to provide the best possible educational experience for its students.
"Molloy's students come from the immediate suburban area of southern Nassau County," he said. "Having decent athletic facilities helps attract these students to a school such as Molloy, instead of them seeking to go off Long Island, which has been a growing problem for Long Island. Our quest to offer more for our students is not a factor of growth. We are attempting to be better, not bigger."
According to Thompson, Molloy is interested in building a softball field, a baseball field and a field that would be used for both soccer and lacrosse. A walking path, a pond and two nature overlooks would be open to the community - as would the fields themselves more than half the time, accommodating local teams that have had difficulty finding places to play as well as those who just want to play catch.
The college's current baseball field is on the campus, and plans call for it to be replaced by a student center and a performing arts center, which would feature music, dance and theater and also be open to residents. The building would also serve as the college's "public square," allowing the community to gather and discuss issues of regional importance.
The college's idea has been criticized by local residents and the Baldwin Oaks Civic Association.
In addition to their opposition to any development on the Coes Neck property, residents remain concerned about the potential consequences for their community of disturbing the property. The parcel is the former site of an asphalt plant and is rumored to have been the former dumping ground for debris from the old Garden City Hotel. Lifelong area residents recall becoming sick and watching plants and trees die from the fumes and pollutants emanating from the site.
According to Dr. Louise Wade, who has lived in Baldwin since 1987, the county has continuously ignored the requests and complaints of residents about the property. Wade insisted that when members of a community are opposed to something that has a direct impact on their lives, their requests are usually honored.
" We ask the county to clean up the contaminant's that they knew were there and leave us alone!" she said.
Wade was one of nearly 40 residents who attended a June 12 meeting of the Nassau County Planning Commission, where she and others protested the county's decision to lease the property to a potential developer for the construction of athletic fields. The meeting was the first of many steps the county must take before it can release an RFP on the property. The Open Space and Parks Advisory Committee will vote on the county plan, and then the Planning Commission will issue a recommendation to County Executive Thomas Suozzi regarding the release of the RFP, which will then be subject to the approval of the county Legislature.
Thompson said that it was only after the college was assured that the property could be safely remediated as athletic facilities that it had any interest in being part of the solution for the property. Thompson stressed that the college would remediate the property at its own cost, which he estimated at between $10 million and $14 million. He said that the college is interested in partnerships that benefit the surrounding community as well as the college, and explained that the facility would be monitored by security cameras by Molloy's security personnel.
Because the property is to be leased, not sold, by the county, it would still be under the jurisdiction of the Nassau County Police Dept.
Thompson stressed the advantages to having Molloy as a neighbor. He said that the college has a strong track record of being a solid partner, and that its remediation of the property at no expense to taxpayers is a significant benefit. "Potential developers of properties like this have not always been as interested in being good neighbors as Molloy College is," said Thompson. "A decade from now, I hope we can look back and describe a model public/private partnership where everyone benefits. The alternative, seen in hundreds of substandard developments around Long Island, is not pretty."
Comments about this story? MRusso@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 283.
