Greenburgh Considering Request for Repeal of State Law
The Town of Greenburgh believes repealing a state law could be a revenue generator for its parks and recreation department.
On Tuesday, the town held a public hearing to discuss voting on a resolution that would ask state officials to repeal a law that bars residents from outside the unincorporated part of the town from using its tennis courts.
The repeal of the Finneran Law would allow for Sportime USA to come in and build a tennis bubble on top of the courts at Veterans Park, which would produce additional revenue to the town. The law would have to be approved by the state legislature, and then sent back to the town to pass a home rule request before being enacted into law.
Sportime had previously proposed an agreement in 2005, but backed out after learning that residents would be excluded.
Sportime would pay the town at least $125,000 in rent during the first year and it is estimated that the town could reap $270,000 a year in rent after ten years, according to published reports,
Sportime has also offered to resurface five tennis courts, a basketball court, and construct two new tennis courts as well as other improvements, according to published reports.
Town Supervisor Paul Feiner said that State Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Yonkers) and Assemblyman Thomas Abinanti (D-Greenburgh) have expressed their support for the repeal. The town will vote on the law Tuesday at a special meeting.
Joe Lucasey, the deputy commissioner of the Parks and Recreation Department said that this would allow for much needed infrastructure improvements to tennis courts.
“The town is not providing a lot of capital money for infrastructure repair,” Lucasey said.
Feiner noted that this law would not impact any of the villages in the Town of Greenburgh and that nobody should object to the repeal of the Finneran Law.
“We’re not forcing anybody to go to the tennis courts and use the tennis bubble,” Feiner said. “Our tennis courts are in need of infrastructure improvements and we don’t have the money. If we contract them with another company, we can get them to do it.”
Residents at the public hearing also expressed their approval for the repeal of the Finneran Law.
“The town would gain a significant amount of revenue,” resident Danny Gold said. “Hopefully we can get this approved and our tennis courts and facilities will have significant improvements.”
Resident Larry Lefkowitz said that the town needs all the revenue it can get at the moment.
“We have courts that are deteriorating and we don’t have the money to fix them,” Lefkowitz said. “We’ve labored with this problem for a long time. I fully support this proposal after a long history of trying to get this done. It’s time to move on and get this done.”
Adam has worked in the local news industry for the past two decades in Westchester County and the broader Hudson Valley. Read more from Adam’s author bio here.