More than $50 million in renovations completed at Hempstead Lake State Park

State officials have completed more than $50 million in renovations to Hempstead Lake State Park, including new hiking trails, tennis courts and flood improvements a decade after Superstorm Sandy.

State park leaders and Long Island officials marked the completion last week of a $47 million project by the Governor’s Office of Storm Recovery, or GOSR, at the 737-acre park in West Hempstead.

That project, which includes $4 million to restore Hempstead Lake Dam, which was built in 1873, follows other improvements such as adding pickleball courts and rehabilitating a boat and kayak launch ramp, state park officials said.

Hempstead Lake State Park was “in need of a lot of love,” said Long Island State Parks Regional Director George Gorman.

“This project was amazing and elevated that park to a higher level,” Gorman said. “At the same time, we looked at facilities, which made that area even more popular.”

Attendance at the park in West Hempstead has more than doubled in the past 10 years, according to the parks department, attracting new visitors with tennis courts and basketball courts redone through capital funding projects.

The park had record attendance last year, with more than 640,000 visitors, compared to about 300,000 visitors in 2013.

Park officials also stock Hempstead Lake Park with trout and host fishing clinics to teach young people to fish, Gorman said.

“This park was extremely neglected and deteriorated and it needed this project so it could continue to be a viable community asset,” Gorman said. “It used to be a hidden gem, but the popularity has soared beyond anything we can imagine. It’s filling to capacity in the summer and the spring and fall as well.”

Improvements are part of the GOSR’s $125 million “Living with the Bay” project to increase resiliency for communities along the Mill River and South Shore.

Funding included a $35 million grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The final phase of the project included $17 million in improvements to the park’s 144-acre Northern Ponds complex with flood control on the Mill River and reducing pollution near Hewlett Bay, Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office said.

Officials called it “one of the largest wetland projects ever completed” by state parks to build 8 acres of wetlands to filter runoff from the Southern State Parkway before it flows into Northeast Pond.

Park workers also restored the Northwest Pond dam to maintain existing water levels  after it was breached during Superstorm Sandy. Officials said improvements at Northeast Pond included planting native species to help remove invasive species and collection of floating debris.

More than “100 tons of some decades-old trash and debris coming down the Mill Creek from upstream was hand removed from the entire Northern Ponds complex over the course of one year,” officials said in a statement.

The park also includes a new 10-foot-wide stone dust greenway trail running north to south through the park and a new 8-foot-wide wide wetland trail with two new pedestrian bridges that can support emergency vehicles.

"The renewed infrastructure at Hempstead Lake State Park underscores New York's commitment to climate resilience and demonstrates our focus to protect communities most vulnerable to the increase of extreme weather events," Hochul said in a statement.

By John Asbury

john.asbury@newsday.comJohnAsbury

John Asbury is a breaking news and general assignment reporter. He has been with Newsday since 2014 and previously worked at The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, California.