Oyster Bay Town Supervisor Joseph Saladino and the Town Board today advanced plans to acquire and forever preserve the Peninsula Golf Course in Massapequa to ensure that it remains a golf course for public use indefinitely. After learning of an eminent sale of the property to a private sector developer, the Town sought zoning changes to protect it and opened negotiations with the current owner to forever preserve this beautiful open space to prevent development of this environmentally sensitive property. The property also serves to drain flood waters in a portion of the Town that was severely impacted by Superstorm Sandy.
“The Peninsula Golf Course is too beautiful, environmentally sensitive and beneficial to allow development as it offers our community recreational opportunities,” said Supervisor Saladino. “Once we learned of the owner’s true intentions to sell this open space to a developer for future residential development, we asked them to sell us the property or voluntarily allow us to rezone the course as recreational space to forever protect it from development. Unfortunately, an agreement could not be reached. The Town continues to advocate for the need of our residents, a protected environment and for the ever-increasing demand for golf. We are now moving forward to acquire this property at a fair price, protect its environmentally sensitive nature and ensure it remains open for public access for generations to come.”
The Oyster Bay Town Board is focused on protecting this property from future development. After unsuccessful efforts to reach a purchase price with the present property owners, the Town advanced eminent domain proceedings in court last week. To ensure full transparency and resident participation, the Town Board hosted a public hearing in June 2021 for residents to provide feedback on the Town’s acquisition plans. At that hearing, there was substantial support for this acquisition from residents, environmentalists, golfers and citizens throughout the Town, including the local civic association.
CREDIT: Town of Oyster Bay