Hampton Bays' Good Ground Park to Receive $1 Million in State Funding

By Scoop Team

3 minute 11/23/2015

): Janice Landis, Hampton Bays Civic Association; Kevin McDonald, Good Ground Park Steering Committee; Maria Hults, Hampton Bays Civic Association; Kyle Collins, Southampton Town Planning and Development Administrator; Francis Zappone, Deputy Supervisor; Senator Ken LaValle; Assemblyman Fred Thiele; Southampton Town Councilwoman Bridget Fleming; Suffolk County Legislator Jay Schneiderman; Southampton Town Councilman Bradley Bender; Susan Von Freddi, Hampton Bays Beautification Association; Chris Bean, Superintendent, Southampton Town Parks & Recreation.

New York State Senator Ken LaValle of Port Jefferson and New York State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. of Sag Harbor joined Southampton Town officials at the Hampton Bays Community Center Friday to announce they have secured an additional $1 million to help support the construction of Good Ground Park in Hampton Bays.

The Good Ground Park Downtown Revitalization Project, a partnership between the Town of Southampton and the Hampton Bays community, has been years in the making. After the town purchased the property in 2001 for $3.8 million through the Community Preservation Fund, efforts to move the project forward stalled due to the recession and a lack of consensus over park design. The Southampton Town Board then conducted community outreach to achieve consensus, and renewed efforts to secure funds.

Southampton Town allocated $1.9 million in capital project funding for park construction and secured two grants from New York State to help support construction costs; one for $500,000 through the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, and one for $440,000 through the New York State Office of Economic Development. The additional $1 million announced Friday was secured through the New York State and Municipal Facilities Program.

It is envisioned that the nearly 40-acre Good Ground Park will provide numerous recreational and educational opportunities and will be a catalyst for new, small scale, main street–style retail development that will be mutually beneficial for the park and the hamlet’s business community, encouraging visitation and stimulating economic activity and patronage at the area’s businesses and historic sites.

“I am pleased that Assemblyman Thiele and I were able to secure substantial state funding for Good Ground Park,” LaValle said. “This park will create a beautiful open space in the Hampton Bays community for everyone to enjoy.”

Thiele added, “Good Ground Park is exactly what the Hampton Bays community needs. I am thrilled to be part of this historic and innovative project.”

“This new park will serve as both a local and a regional asset,” Southampton Town Supervisor Anna Throne-Holst said.