Oyster Bay plan calls for fewer soccer fields near new housing development

Preliminary plans to build athletic fields next to a Plainview housing development would reduce the number of soccer fields there now while adding baseball and cricket fields, according to Oyster Bay town documents.

Oyster Bay’s conceptual plans for the fields, outlined in a Feb. 4 memo by a town contractor, call for two soccer fields, two baseball fields and one cricket field on approximately 22 acres adjacent to the Country Pointe Plainview development. The cricket field and one baseball field could accommodate “overlay” soccer fields, according to the memo.

As part of the approval process to build 750 units of housing and commercial space, Jericho-based developer Beechwood Organization agreed to deed part of the 143.25 acre site to the town for recreational use, including the 22 acres where the planned fields would replace five existing soccer fields.

Russ Bank, president of the Plainview Old Bethpage soccer club, said all five fields are used during the spring season. The club uses the fields in conjunction with the Long Island Junior Soccer League, which Bank said has an agreement with Beechwood. Bank said he was not aware of the plan before being asked about it by Newsday and that the club board would review it.

“I’m sure we’ll have some continued discussion with them [Town of Oyster Bay officials] on where the children of Plainview Old Bethpage are going to play,” Bank said.

He added that the club has about 1,300 children.

The site held seven full-size soccer fields when the town board approved the project in 2015, satellite photos show, but the new housing was built over two of them.

Ari Wind, president of Plainview Little League, a children’s baseball organization, said his organization has been asking town officials for more fields for years without success, until now.

“The fact that we’re getting two fields — I’m happy,” Wind said, adding that earlier plans for the site included only soccer fields. The league has about 800 members, Wind said.

Oyster Bay Deputy Town Supervisor Gregory Carman Jr. said the town has other facilities for soccer such as a new field at the Ellsworth W. Allen park in Farmingdale.

“It was always understood there would be less soccer fields there when this project was developed,” Carman said. “It was my understanding it was supposed to be more of a community park.”

Carman said the plans are not final and discussions about the terms and timeline of the handover of the property are ongoing.

The Beechwood Organization’s general counsel, Richard Rosenberg, said in a statement Tuesday that the developer is waiting on the town.

“Once the town approves a plan, Beechwood will perform the improvements that we are required to perform and then dedicate the parcel,” Rosenberg said.