The saga of the Elmont community center
The YMCA of Long Island has bought this vacant office building at 570 Elmont Rd. for the new community center. Credit: Newsday / Howard Schnapp
It was December 2017 when former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo stood alongside Billy Joel and then-New York Islanders John Tavares and Cal Clutterbuck, and welcomed back the Islanders. The team and its development partners would build a new arena on state land at Belmont Park.
"It's a great day for Long Island," Cuomo said.
And it was.
For residents of Elmont, however, it was just the beginning of a long struggle to gain the community benefits that New York Arena Partners, as the development group was known, had long promised them. In the eight-plus years that followed, construction on UBS Arena started and finished, and the Islanders have completed five seasons of play there. Tavares left to join the Toronto Maple Leafs and Clutterbuck retired. Even Joel sold his Centre Island estate and Cuomo no longer is an elected official.
In those intervening years, Elmont residents fought battles that shouldn't have been as difficult or as long as they were. As the arena was built and opened, community members, who dutifully attended countless meetings where they were promised minimal impacts, faced construction, traffic, parking and noise headaches — all without the promised benefits materializing.
Improvements to Elmont Road Park were finally finished in 2022. But a new community center remained elusive. Initial proposals placed the center on the Belmont property, but residents wanted it elsewhere. Finding an appropriate space and operator became challenging; even a request for interest in 2023 went unanswered. Initial deadlines required the center to be completed by last November. Extensions were granted.
Finally, last week, a deal was reached with the YMCA of Long Island to operate a new center at 570 Elmont Rd.
Through the starts and stops, Assemb. Michaelle Solages, who represents Elmont, tried to hold everyone accountable. There were phone calls, meetings, rallies — even a drive around the neighborhood with a list of every vacant site. Eventually, everyone — from elected officials, Empire State Development and the Islanders' representatives to advocates and lobbyists — came together to get the deal done.
"When you have that synergy, I think that's when the magic happens," Solages said.
It also helped, Solages said, that Gov. Kathy Hochul and her top advisers were fully on board, attending multiple meetings, offering assistance and asking Solages for updates even when there wasn't much to say.
"It's been a long time coming and we're thrilled that it's finally going to happen," Hochul spokesman Gordon Tepper said. "Others may have been willing to allow it to linger, but the governor's office made it a priority."
The saga of the Elmont community center may rest on a peculiar set of circumstances, but it's worth considering as a cautionary tale with a simple lesson for all Long Islanders: It's easy for developers to make promises. It's much harder to keep them.
Some municipalities have established stricter community benefits standards — in terms of what's promised, how it's enforced and the potential for incentives or penalties. In Brookhaven, for instance, a warehouse project on Dowling College land also includes a new municipal ice skating facility. The agreement there allows the town to hold the final certificate of occupancy on the industrial complex until the rink is completed, Supervisor Dan Panico noted.
The Belmont story is far different. But Solages points to the right ingredients: An explicit, detailed community benefits agreement. Engaged and organized residents. Committed elected officials. And plenty of "might, political will and persistence."
With that mix, hopefully building and opening the community center won't take another eight-plus years.
Columnist Randi F. Marshall's opinions are her own.
Randi Marshall is a member of the Newsday editorial board.
