Petrone Details Design Elements for Sweet Hollow Park

By AJ Carter (Spokesperson for Supervisor Frank Petrone)

Huntington Supervisor Frank P. Petrone recently detailed the conceptual design elements for the new Sweet Hollow Park, based on input submitted by more than 70 members of the community that had been seeking a park for many years.

Speaking before the Civic Association of Sweet Hollow June 24, Supervisor Petrone said the park design will incorporate a multi-ability playground, tennis courts, bocce courts, game tables, covered areas, walking/running/bicycle paths, benches and picnic tables. A garden is possible, if a local garden club will help to maintain it, as is a sculpture (similar to the work installed at the Huntington Station Pedestrian Plaza) that could incorporate the history of the area. The Town’s Trails Committee will consider the site for potential on-leash dog walking.

The main entrance to the park will be on Old Country Road, and a new crosswalk will be designated near the Knolls at Melville senior living complex for a pedestrian entrance on Round Swamp Road (the park is at the intersection of Old Country and Round Swamp Roads). The site will include parking; the parking area will be secured at night, when the park will be closed (it will not have lighting).

“The community has provided some exciting suggestions to make this a true, intergenerational neighborhood park, where residents of all ages can gather and enjoy a range of activities,” Supervisor Petrone said.  “I look forward to working with the advisory committee to refine these suggestions and produce the final design.”

 The advisory committee, which is being formed, will have up to nine members, chosen from various community groups in the area. The committee will help guide the design. The initial concept plan will be drafted by the Department of Parks and Recreation.  It is anticipated that the park planning process will take from 18 to 24 months to proceed from environmental site review to final engineering design to awarding the contract for construction.

The park is being built on the 8.1-acre former Meyers Farm, which the Town purchased earlier this year from Bochasanwasi Shree Akshar Purushottam-Northeast (BAPS), a Hindu organization that had originally proposed erecting a temple on the site. Under an innovative, complex arrangement, the temple instead will be built on a different site that will also include 261 units of affordable senior housing. As recommended by the Town’s EOSPA Committee, the Town envisions developing three acres for active recreational use and holding five acres as passive parkland.