Right on COURSE - park planning in North Hempstead, New York - Brief Article

Parks & Recreation, June, 1999

The town of North Hempsteads's (N.Y.) Harbor Links Development is, by most accounts, the largest recreational facility project undertaken in Nassau County in more than 20 years. Spanning approximately 390 acres, the facility will be the town's largest park. It will address several of the town's recreational necessities, generate significant economic benefits, and provide solutions to a number of North Hempstead's public welfare concerns.

These public concerns include stabilizing eroding bluffs that were bordered by a residential plan of homes, and the environmentally threatened adjacent property that was left in a deplorable condition when the former property owner, a sand-mining operation, abandoned the site.

As one of the largest remaining tracts of land in Nassau County, it demanded careful and sensitive development. To that end, the town designated the majority of the site be developed as recreational parkland and open space. Yet, the need for supporting revenue was obvious.

The solution was to develop the site as a golf course facility that would serve as a recreational source for the town, a well-planned and effective combination of public resources and private facilities.

The design team, led by Greenman-Pedersen of Babylon, N.Y., created the Harbor Links development, which comprises an 18-hole championship golf course, a nine-hole executive course, four athletic fields, a seven-acre nature study area, and more than 50 acres of open space. Forty acres of the site will be developed for senior housing and assisted living, and another six acres will be designated for development by private enterprise for commercial recreational use.

Overall, the project, which began with an abandoned, destitute piece of property, will provide a formidable recreational resource for North Hempstead, bring Long Island recognition for high-quality leisure facilities, and generate additional revenue for the town.