Resident donations made to renovate Woodbine Marina bathrooms for Village use
Donations from two residents are funding the renovation of the bathrooms between Cow Harbor Park and the Woodbine Marina.
We rely on your support to share good news!
Become a supporting member today.
The vacant and deteriorating bathrooms between Cow Harbor Park and the Woodbine Marina are getting a major makeover, thanks to the generous donations of two Northport Village residents.
Arlene Handel, a former Northport Village and Northport Zoning Board of Appeals trustee, is donating $300,000 for the bathroom renovation project.
Handel and her late sister, Muriel Gottesman, are longtime philanthropists in the Northport community. The sisters purchased the Skidmore House at 199 Main Street and the Donahue House at 209 Main Street for the Northport Historical Society to ensure that the buildings would be preserved. Handel remains a Trustee Emeritus for the Northport Historical Society today. In 2011, Gottesman funded the bathroom renovations in Northport Village Park, providing new tile, sinks and doors. She also paid for new posts and decking on the veranda above the bathrooms, and covered the costs of upgrading the Northport gazebo several years before that.
For the Woodbine Marina bathroom renovations, Lizbeth Thalheimer of Thalheimer Architecture is donating architectural services in the amount of $7,000. “She will be designing a new bathroom that will pretty much mimic the bathrooms we have in Northport Village Park,” Mayor Donna Koch said at the January 17 board of trustees meeting, adding that the tile, sink and stalls will be similar.
“I can’t thank them enough for this generous donation, it’s very generous,” Mayor Koch said.
Northport Village is entering an inter-municipal agreement with the Town of Huntington, allowing the Village to take possession of the bathrooms. This will be “another piece” of the existing lease between the two municipalities that includes Cow Harbor Park and Northport Village Park.
The bathroom as it exists now is already tied into the Village sewer system, so the plan is to redo the facility where it currently stands, but move the facility entry into Cow Harbor Park, which will stand next to the playground and new basketball court. “Whether or not the building itself is sturdy enough or structurally sound enough to redo, or it needs to be demolished, is still something we’re working on,” Mayor Koch explained.
