Playland Lawsuit Dismissed

Westchester County Board of Legislators (BOL) Chairman Ken Jenkins commented on today’s New York Supreme Court Associate Justice Barbara G. Zambelli’s dismissal of his legal challenge to County Executive Rob Astorino’s so-called “management agreement” with Sustainable Playland, Inc. (SPI) to revitalize Playland, the County’s historic 280-acre amusement park and recreation facility:

“In asserting that the ‘management agreement’ is not a lease, the court’s decision, unfortunately, did not consider how this contract exceeds the authority of the County’s Board of Acquisition and Contract, where it was approved.  I will ask Judge Zambelli to review her decision, since the County Charter does not permit the County’s Board of Acquisition and Contract to enter into any agreements that exceed five years without approval from the Board of Legislators,” said Jenkins.

In May 2013, Jenkins filed a lawsuit seeking to annul the County’s Board of Acquisition and Contract which was voted on April 18, 2013 to approve a ten-year “Asset Management Agreement” between the County and SPI. This lawsuit by Jenkins claimed that Astorino’s and the Budget Director Lawrence Soule’s votes were “in excess” of their jurisdictional duties and contrary to the laws specified in the County Charter, and that the ten-year agreement that the County Executive signed with SPI is just a lease by another name.

As for the “Asset Management Agreement,” Jenkins states that it contains many provisions typical of a lease and conferring rights well beyond those of a licensee or holder of a temporary privilege.

Playland specifically is controlled by the BOL in accordance with the County Charter since the dissolution of the Playland Commission in 1980. In October 2012, Astorino signed a letter of intent for SPI. BOL Government Operations Committee, chaired by Legislator Catherine Borgia (D-Ossining), has been involved over the past year in an open and transparent process of evaluating the four finalists with proposals to reinvent Playland.