The North Hempstead Town Board Tuesday morning during a special meeting authorized a license agreement with Chaminade High School in Mineola to construct a new storage facility for its crew team at North Hempstead Beach Park in Port Washington. 

Supervisor Jennifer DeSena said the matter first came to the board in 2020, but terms could not be finalized at the time. 

Terms for the license agreement are 20 years and it is revocable at the will of the town with 80 days’ notice that would require Chaminade to be paid by the town a portion of their capital improvements, DeSena said.

Chaminade is one of three parties that uses the beach for rowing activities, including Manhasset Public Schools and Port Washington Rowing Club, which is private. 

The resolution was first tabled at the town board’s July 11 meeting last week after questions surrounding the agreement’s language were raised, specifically on increasing the yearly licensing fee from $250 to $500 and making sure the town was not violating New York’s parkland alienation laws, which oversee taking parkland for non-public use.

Chaminade’s previous facility at the beach, which existed for decades, was condemned by the town’s Building Department in May. The new facility will be constructed in the same space as the current facility, DeSena said during the July 11 meeting. 

Brother Thomas Cleary, president of Chaminade, thanked the town board Tuesday morning during public comments. 

“I want to thank the council for getting us to this point,” Cleary said. “We are very happy with the agreement.”