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The meeting will be held Feb. 25 at 7:30 p.m in the City Council chambers. According to Mayor Joe Sack, the forum will include representatives from the County Executive's office, the Board of Legislators, Sustainable Playland and the city of Rye who will share information on the proposed plans to renovate Playland, the process, and the potential impact on the park and on Rye.
"What we'd like to do is get as much information out in the public domain as possible," Sack said. "I think that's the first step in coming towards the right outcome."
Sustainable's Playland Improvement Plan was not approved by the Westchester Board of Legislators at the end of last year, and has been resubmitted to the board for consideration and approval. At Monday's meeting of the Board of Legislators, the board voted to refer the plan to the committees on budget and appropriations, parks, labor, planning and housing, and economic development. The committees will review the plan for up to three months before voting on it.
The last public information session on Playland held in Rye was met with frustration by residents, who felt that they did not get a chance to have their questions answered. The most contentious part of the Improvement Plan is the 95,000 square foot sports field house that Sustainable has proposed building on the current Playland parking lot.
Some, such as Donna Levin of Westchester Elite, feel that the field house will address much-needed field space in Westchester for kids to play sports.
"This would allow our children to practice and play sports year-round, indoors and outdoors, without needing to travel distances," Levin said.
Others, such as George Szczerba of Rye, feel that the field house will remove valuable parking spaces and affect surrounding residents.
"It's going to be encroaching on the neighborhoods, and I really, truly believe this is going to affect our quality of life and our property values."
Rye's Playland Advisory Committee has assembled a long list of questions about the project, particularly with regards to the field house, as well as traffic and parking, which it is hoping to get answered from the County Executive's office, Sustainable Playland and the Board of Legislators in the coming weeks.
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