Construction of Cow Harbor Park basketball court approved with 3-1 vote by Village board

The Northport Village board of trustees approved phase one of renovations to the basketball court in Cow Harbor Park at its March 5 meeting, putting into motion a plan first proposed in the summer of 2021. Renovations include the refurbishment and slight expansion of the court – built in the 1970s – plus new fencing, a French drain system and landscape maintenance improvements. 

Mayor Donna Koch, Deputy Mayor Meghan Dolan and Trustee Dave Weber voted in favor of the resolution at yesterday’s board meeting. Trustee Joseph Sabia voted against it. Trustee Ernest Pucillo, who was absent from the meeting, told the Journal in an email today that he would have voted no on the issue had he been in attendance. 

“I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to our beloved organizers – the 1995 team,” Trustee Dolan, who is also commissioner of parks, said at Tuesday’s meeting. She offered special thanks to Northport resident and project organizer Doug Trani (who sat front row at the meeting with his family) and his 1995 teammates Greg Dunne, Tom Radman, Rob Sanicola, and Chris Wiebke. “Your approach, perseverance, and pure, deep-rooted, unwavering belief in a larger cause has been a beacon of light guiding us all to this point,” Dolan said. “Your generosity of spirit is matched only by the generosity of this community in raising $100,000 to get this done. We are so appreciative. You are the best of Northport and this project is what the Northport community is all about.”

To date, the Northport High School 1995 Long Island Champion Boys Basketball team has raised over $110,000 in donations that, when combined with a state grant secured in 2021, will fully cover construction of the updated court and the installation of a new fence.  

Some elements of the project will be provided by the Village’s highway department, including  demolition, disposal of debris, the removal of three trees, and site leveling in preparation for construction. 

Once court construction by The LandTek Group, the contractor used by the Town of Huntington for all court resurfacing projects, is complete, Village workers will return to the site to install a French drain and a permeable drainage system to the area, and finish grading and seeding around the court. 

Three trees will be removed for the project, including two adjacent to the court along Woodbine Avenue and one tree on the border of the Woodbine Marina property that will be removed for fence installation. 

All labor will be done during regular business hours at an estimated value of $29,100, according to Village officials. The estimated cost of materials is $10,680, which will be covered by existing funds within the 2024-25 Village budget and requires no additional cost to taxpayers. 

Trustee Sabia, who has argued from early on in the process that he would support the court if it could be built at no cost to taxpayers, said last night that his decision to vote no was based on finances. “I was never against this basketball court. I think it’s good for the Village and I think it’s good for the children,” Sabia said before bringing up the $40,000 in labor and materials the Village has allotted for the project, suggesting the money could be used in “so many places,” such as sidewalks and curbs instead. The court “is not a necessity,” he said. 

While Trustee Pucillo was not present for the meeting, and did not submit a statement to be read in his absence, he did confirm in his email with the Journal his opposition to the project.

When asked about his absence from the meeting, Pucillo told the Journal he was teaching at Farmingdale State College, where he is an adjunct professor.

“I would have liked to see a committee put together to suggest how we could improve Cow Harbor Park,” Pucillo explained. “I think our failure to address all of the residents' opinions created an issue that could have been avoided.” 

A well-attended public hearing on the project proposal was held in July 2022, at which time Mayor Koch announced a compromise on the court size had been reached with the organizers. 

Koch met the 1995 team organizers two years ago, as a newly appointed mayor. They presented the project to her, she said, and reviewed the plan at the park. “I thought it was too big and we worked together, we compromised,” she said; that compromise came after she and Pucillo went down to the site and agreed on a smaller size together, Koch said. The hardscape area around the court has also been reduced. “This position is about learning and evolving, and I am happy with this resolution tonight and glad to see this project moving forward,” Koch said.

Trustee Dave Weber acknowledged how the basketball court project has, over time, become a divisive issue within the community and is now affecting even the upcoming election. Reading from a statement he shared at a workshop last week, he explained how his support for the basketball court project has not wavered despite a fellow board member – later verified to be Trustee Joe Sabia by Sabia himself – warning him that voting “yes” on the project would hurt his chances when he runs for reelection alongside Pucillo later this month. 

“This has been going on for three years and as soon as I heard about it, I was like, ‘What’s not to love about this project?’” Weber said. “I remain steadfast in my thoughts about this project for our community. It grew out of community spirit, and I’ve been involved in a lot of community spirit projects around Northport – this is no different.”

Demolition of the existing basketball court and site preparations will begin immediately. Construction of the new basketball court is expected to start around April 1, with an anticipated finish date in May.