Press Release
November 23, 2022
Draft Master Plan Completed for Nissequogue River State Park
The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (OPRHP) has completed a Draft Master Plan and Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for Nissequogue River State Park, located in the Hamlet of Kings Park, Town of Smithtown, Suffolk County, NY. A public meeting on the Draft Master Plan and DEIS will be hosted online Tuesday, December 13, 2022, at 6:00 p.m. The meeting will be recorded and made publicly available.During the meeting, staff will make a presentation about the
Plan and DEIS and be available to receive verbal comments after the
presentation. Free registration in advance of the online meeting will be
required in order to attend. To register, please fill out the registration with
this link: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwrc-Guqj8vH9Hf_nvXa8vUD3aW2IERh-Dm
OPRHP encourages the public to participate in the online
public meeting and welcomes all comments on the draft documents. An online
version of the draft Master Plan and DEIS is available at the following
publicly accessible website: https://parks.ny.gov/inside-our-agency/master-plans.aspx. Non-digital copies of the documents can be obtained from
the Agency Contact listed below. The documents are also available at the Long
Island Regional Office, Belmont State Park, 625 Belmont Ave, West Babylon, NY.
Persons may provide comments by email or in writing no later than the end of
the public comment period – Friday, January 20, 2023. See details below.
The NRSP Master Plan identifies opportunities for strategic
preservation and adaptive reuse of select former hospital buildings for future
community programming. It identifies actions for OPRHP and stakeholder
organizations that will further protect, preserve, and enhance areas of
ecological significance. It also provides suggestions on how to adapt the
site's ecologies from shoreline to upland ecosystems to ensure the site can
continue to serve the community well into the future. The DEIS describes
potential environmental impacts and mitigation of those that may be adverse.
Resources evaluated with respect to impacts include land, water, air,
biological/ecology, cultural and archeological, scenic, open space and
recreation, traffic/access, public health and safety, and energy, noise, odor,
and light.
Written comments on the Draft Master
Plan and DEIS will be accepted until close of business on Friday, January
20, 2023. Comments may be
submitted to: NissequogueRiver.plan@parks.ny.gov or mailed to: Nicole Garofolo, Environmental Analyst Long Island
Region, NYS Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, Long Island
Region, P.O. Box 247, Babylon, NY 11702 or to: Diana Carter, Assistant Division
Director for Planning, Division of Environmental Stewardship and Planning,
NYS Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic
Preservation, 625 Broadway, Albany, NY 12238
If you have any questions, please call George Gorman,
Regional Director, Long Island Region at 631-321-3501, or email NissequogueRiver.Plan@parks.ny.gov.
New York State Office
of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation oversees more than 250
individual parks, historic sites, recreational trails, and boat launches, which
were visited by a record 78 million people in 2021. A recent university study
found that spending by State Parks and its visitors supports $5 billion in
output and sales, 54,000 private-sector jobs and more than $2.8 billion in
additional state GDP. For more information on any of these recreation areas,
visit www.parks.ny.gov, download the free NY
State Parks Explorer mobile app or call 518.474.0456. Also, connect with us on
Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.