New Hyde Park village board members want to use part of a $5 million state grant to buy land near the LIRR train station for a commuter parking lot and build a nearby park where some commuter parking is currently located.
The village is under contract to purchase the land for $3.5 million and the state is aware of these plans, New Hyde Park Mayor Christopher Devane said.
The proposal comes soon after the completion of a disruptive, years-long Third Track project on the Long Island Rail Road, which laid an additional track on the Main Line for 9.8 miles and removed seven street-level crossings.
Other municipalities have used money from the MTA community benefit fund to finance projects throughout the village. In Mineola, $1.7 million of the community benefit fund was used to turf the Wilson Park field. And the MTA also funded a pickleball court in Floral Park and a roughly $9,000 “Welcome to Garden City Park” sign.
While the $5 million state grant is not an MTA-backed community benefit fund, Devane said a new park and commuter parking lot would be something nice for residents who have had to endure noise and traffic for years.
“The people who bore the brunt of all the construction, with the detours…all of this for four years, are now gonna get a park out of it, and I really do think it’s an appropriate closing chapter,” Devane told Blank Slate Media. “What better way to beautify an area than taking an industrial area and now adding a beautiful park where people can come and congregate?”
The state grant was originally discussed in 2018 by then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the former New Hyde Park mayor, Devane said. Devane was not yet on the village board in 2018.
Then in 2021, Devane, as mayor, signed off on the grant, which gave village officials a three-year window to use the funding for beautification on Second Avenue and Third Avenue near the railroad tracks.
Village officials plan to use the grant to buy two-thirds of the existing LIRR parking lot between South 11th Street and South 12th Street to create a new park and then add a new parking lot to ensure commuters don’t lose out on parking spaces.
Officials want to use the commuter lot land for the new park because it is a larger space. Instead of building the park elsewhere, using the LIRR parking lot land will allow for a larger park and village officials will expand commuter parking elsewhere.
There are 120 spots in the current commuter parking lot, and only about 80 commuters use the lot daily, Devane said. The village would keep 37 spaces in the existing lot and add 52 new spaces across the street, Devane said. He said there is also an additional parking lot on the north side of the tracks with 95 spaces.
The current property at 300 South 12th Street houses two empty commercial buildings and a vacant home. This property would be converted into a new parking lot for commuters under the plan, Devane said.
There have been proposals in the past for this property, like an apartment building and a storage facility, that fell through. Devane said New Hyde Park doesn’t need any more storage facilities.
Preliminary park plans include pickleball courts, a playground, a dog park and seating areas, Devane said. The mayor said this new park will turn an “eyesore” into something positive for residents.
“I have families [in town] with young kids who are very excited now they have a place to go to,” Devane said.
