Basketball court project opposers ask TOH board not to fund plan

Four Northport Village residents spoke in opposition to the Cow Harbor Park Revitalization Project at the Tuesday, October 17 Town of Huntington (TOH) board meeting, asking the board not to fund the project through the town’s Environmental Open Space and Park Fund Advisory (EOSPA) Committee. 

Kevin Kavanaugh, who has been leading the opposition to the expanded basketball court and park beautification project, said that the plan will turn Cow Harbor Park into an “athletic field” and accused EOSPA chair Mark McAteer of being biased because of his initial involvement in the project through his donation of architectural plans as CEO of The Laurel Group. 

As reported in earlier Northport Journal articles, the revitalized court size will be 64 feet long x 48 feet wide, eight feet longer than the already existing court. It is not a full-size court, but is enough to include an entire three-point arc. “When the court was built 40-plus years ago, the three-point line was not an important part of the game,” Northport Village Trustee Meghan Dolan, who has been spearheading the project, told the Journal. “But it is today, and that’s why we made the court like that. To allow the people who play on it, our kids, and yes, adults will be able to play there too, to practice and use a court designed for today’s game.” 

“This is a little seaside community where people go to walk their dogs, and eat lunch, and sit across from Copenhagen, and have a peaceful time,” Kavanaugh said at the TOH meeting. Supervisor Ed Smyth responded, stating that the board received Kavanaugh’s “detailed email” on the project and would be reviewing it. 

Fellow Northport Village resident Blair Beaudet said that “residents of Northport are against having this basketball court” and asked the board not to approve any funding for it. 

Beaudet’s wife, Margie, also spoke and said that funding the project would be a “waste of money.” She claimed that there was never a public hearing on the project (though one took place on July 12, 2022 at the Northport American Legion) and that the majority of Village residents aren’t even aware of the plan. “Trustee Dolan and some basketball players, who don’t even live in Northport,” want to put a “full-size basketball court” into Cow Harbor Park, she said. 

“The cost for the village would be hundreds of thousands of dollars, and the Village can’t afford it,” Beaudet added, noting that, according to Village Trustee Joe Sabia, the Village doesn’t have the money or the manpower for the project. At the time of publishing this story, Northport Village officials estimated the Village’s contribution to the project would be a few days to a week of Village labor in terms of demolition of the current court, prepping the site for construction of the new court, and assisting in the drainage for the project.

“Our village has been riddled with misinformation since the beginning of this project,” Josephine Rizzoni of Northport Village said. She claimed that the total cost of the project would be $400K, when the Village is only asking EOSPA for $199K. (Rizzoni is not taking into account the funds provided by private donors and a state grant, as well as the dollar value on labor by the Northport Village Highway department, which all contribute to the total value of the project). “We’d like the town of Huntington to take everything into consideration before giving this money to the Village of Northport,” she said to the board. 

Don McKay, who grew up in Northport and said he played basketball at Cow Harbor Park as a kid, stated that he wasn’t prepared to comment on the basketball court project, but chose to do so in reaction to the residents who spoke out against it. “The board needs to understand that there’s a very large number of people in the Village who support this project,” McKay said. “There’s been a compromise reached,” he noted, adding that Cow Harbor Park is already an active area with a nearby marina and commercial fisherman’s dock.

Trustee Dolan, who has been on the receiving end of criticism from opposers, said that after the EOSPA committee’s 5-2 vote to approve funding wasn’t enough to move forward, some changes have to be made to the initial project plan in order to reduce costs and try again to secure funding. 

In the most current plan, there will be an alteration in elevation and a reduction of hardscape on the west side of the court, closer to the playground. State funding is expected to be finalized early next month, Dolan said; she hopes that the Village can present the updated plans at the November EOSPA meeting and secure the funding needed. 

“At this point it’s clear that no matter what the benefits are to the Village, expecting everyone to agree on everything is unrealistic,” Trustee Dolan said in a statement to the Journal. “The current Village board voted unanimously to agree on this project, first on the scope of the project and then on the plans, because we see the value for the Village and the greater community. The representations made by the few opposers to this project have been largely inaccurate and widely sensationalized.”

As an example, Dolan said opponents have argued against the removal of any tree for the project, despite the project including plans for a native rain and drainage garden, as well as the planting of donated native trees. She also mentioned that fights to deny the Village funding seem counterproductive. 

“The opposition is opposed to the cost of the project, however, has attempted to stand in the way of the Village advocating for its necessary funding. If those are the sticking points, then those facts should weigh heavily,” she said. 

“Despite this recent opposition, overwhelming community support for this project has not dimmed, and we know that it will be absolutely beautiful when it’s finished and a benefit to every resident aesthetically, ecologically and functionally. We are long overdue for an investment in this area of the park. People in support of this project should let their local officials know in both Northport Village and the Town of Huntington.”