Town awards Carmans River kayak and canoe rental center to Mastic Beach woman, who'll operate a nonprofit

More than two years after a longtime operator ceased operations, the Town of Brookhaven has reached an agreement with a Mastic Beach woman to take over the site of the old Carmans River kayak and canoe rental center on Montauk Highway in Southaven.

Supervisor Dan Panico said town officials voted unanimously to issue an operating license to 22-year-old artist Izadora Meares, who will operate it as a 501(c) nonprofit.

In an announcement on X, Panico wrote: "We welcome Izadora and wish her success as she begins this new chapter in the history of the property for the people of Brookhaven."

On Thursday, Panico said the town selected Meares and her new nonprofit to operate the site near the Wertheim National Wildlife Refuge. The property was purchased by the town in 2011 and had been operated as a kayak and canoe rental center using the public ramp to the river until it was closed in February 2024.

The town and Meares have not finalized the agreement, pending the signing of lease contracts. After two requests for proposals, Meares' was the only response.

Meares told Newsday on Thursday she hadn't decided whether the repaired kayak racks would be rented or users could just store kayaks there.

Meares said she planned to invest about $20,000 that she hoped to raise through fundraising platforms. Improvements to the property will include a rehabilitation of the kayak racks and rental center building, where she plans to open an art school for children, she said.

The first three months of her one-year implementation plan lists fundraising, establishing nonprofit standing and acquiring an employer identification number and 501(c)(3) status from the IRS, according to her proposal.

"I decided to start a nonprofit art organization, mainly for children but also for adults, based on a craft school and offering weeklong workshops," Meares said. She plans to use the riverfront area to help focus on local ecology — and ecology-based art exploration, she said.

For children, Meares' proposal outlines a summer day camp and yearlong homeschooling program where students would participate in workshops focused on one artistic medium each week, such as ceramics, photography and creative writing. She also proposed free public programming, like artist talks and events in collaboration with other nonprofits, like the Mastic Beach Conservancy, which wrote a letter of support to accompany Meares' application.

In her financial and sustainability plan, Meares outlined student tuition, kayak slip rental and donations as major revenue streams. The proposed sliding scale pricing includes three tiers for one week of workshops: true cost for $550, direct cost for $450 and subsidized cost for $350.

"We will repair the kayak racks and whether we rent or just allow users to store kayaks there to start, we still haven't determined," Meares said.

Meares said she was homeschooled through high school, then attended SUNY New Paltz.

She said she grew up sailing and was a sailing instructor, but she was "not a kayak expert."

Meares' initial plan is to offer art workshops for children ages 11 to 17, rehabilitating the property to make it a safer environment for outdoor explorers to use the existing town ramp to the river, she said.

"If I can rehab the kayak center to make it a more usable space instead of an eyesore along the side of the road, then that's the biggest first step," Meares said. "Obviously, once the main building is up and running and we've fixed the kayak rack ... then we can go from there."