County Contract to Put SPI in Control of Playland Next Season

 Westchseter County Executive Rob Astorino announced the terms of the “asset management agreement” negotiated with Sustainable Playland Inc. during a press conference in White Plains this morning.

The county Board of Acquisition and Contract is expected to sign the ten-year agreement with the county by mid-April, which will hand over the responsibility of Playland park, including the Ice Casino and pool, to Sustainable Playland Inc. (SPI) for the 2014 season. SPI, a non-profit group founded by local residents three years ago in response to the county’s request for management proposals, plans to keep the amusement park as the major attraction and to develop six major “zones” throughout the property- amusement zone, aqua/beach zone, field zone, fountain plaza zone (which includes the Ice Casino), great lawn zone, and common area zone.  (View details of their plan here).

“This plan keeps everything that is great about Playland,” Astorino said. “Not only will the Dragon Coaster and the other historic rides be preserved, but the attractions will be expanded to make the park a destination for families year round.”

SPI will use equity investments from the operators, fees charged to operators and revenues generated by the attractions in order to pay fees to the county and fund their improvements. Astorino said the park has been losing about $3-5 million annually in recent years as attendance figures have dropped. SPI will pay the county a base fee that could eventually total $4 million. They will make annual payments to the county based on the park’s net operating revenue, which is estimated to be about $1.2 million per year once the park is fully developed. All payments will go toward retiring the county’s existing dept for Playland of about $35 million.

 Once the Board of Acquisition and Contract approves the contract, which is expected to happen by April 18, SPI has thirty days to submit a Playland Improvement Plan (PIP) to the county executive. Astorino expects to sign off on the plan quickly and hand it off to the Board of Legislators (BOL) who will then need to approve it in order for the transition to begin. Once the BOL approves the plan, SPI can begin their management transition in order to take over on Oct. 1, 2013. SPI has until Jan. 1, 2014 to assume management in case of delayed approvals. If the BOL does not approve the improvement plan by that date, then management plan will be nullified.  

Some members of the BOL have objected to Astorino’s selection of SPI, first announced in October, claiming the BOL did not play a large enough role in the selection process and questioning portions of the SPI plan.

“It is important it does not get bogged down in political paralysis,” Astorino said. He emphasized this point several times during this morning’s press conference. “If this is going to become an election year issue to stop it, the people (who will suffer) are the tax payers,” he said.

In addition to legislators who have opposed parts of the plan, a citizens group named “Save Playland” has started a petition and a Facebook group that publicizes their opposition to the plan. They claim SPI will reduce the size of the amusement park by 50 percent and will remove 30 percent of rides. An SPI spokesman said that they are accurate that 30 percent of rides will be removed, but that the amusement park footprint will be reduced by at most 33 percent, not 50. Save Playland disagrees.

After hearing that SPI and the county reached a final agreement, Save Playland issued a press release that reiterates their opposition to the SPI’s plan to remove rides and states that their electronic petition has received more than 2,000 signatures, at least 740 of which are from Wetschester County residents.

When asked if there were any concerns the SPI plan would face a legal challenge, the during Thursday’s press conference, Astorino said there could be legal challenges to anything and that “memories don’t pay the bill… This (plan) will make Playland better.”

Astorino also announced Thursday that the county has awarded the $2 million bid for repair of the south boardwalk and fishing pier to Titan Construction Group, Inc. The work will begin tomorrow, he said. The county expects FEMA to reimburse it for some of the $13 million in total damage that Sandy caused to Playland.

Read more details on the asset management agreement here.