Huntington to name spray park for NYPD Sgt. Paul Tuozzolo

Huntington’s first spray park, which will be named for slain NYPD Sgt. Paul Tuozzolo, is expected to open in the summer of 2018.

The town board approved appropriating $380,000 for the development of the water facility at Elwood Park on Thursday.

Tuozzolo, a father of two, was shot and killed in November 2016 while responding to a 911 call in the Bronx. He and his wife, Lisa, had lived in Greenlawn for about nine years, close to where the spray park will be built.

“It was an honor to work with Sgt. Tuozzolo’s family to create our first Huntington spray park,” said town board member Tracey Edwards, who sponsored the resolution. “This will allow Sgt. Tuozzolo’s legacy to live on.”

The total cost of the park is not to exceed $380,000, and the money will come from three sources: $200,000 from the town Environmental Open Space and Park Fund Review Advisory Committee Park Improvement Fund; $128,000 from the Neighborhood Parks Fund; and $52,000 from a park improvement payment for community benefit from The Engel Burman Group, the Garden City-based developer of The Seasons at Elwood age-restricted condos on Elwood Road.

The appropriations were approved in a 5-0 vote at the town board’s Thursday meeting.

The 2,500-square-foot park will have 1,600 square feet of active play features. The park will likely be similar to the water park at Smithtown’s Hoyt Farm Nature Preserve, town officials said.

The area also will have a shade structure, six park benches, a 4-foot vinyl-coated chain-link fence and a memorial trellis with the name of the spray park.

Town officials said construction should begin in the spring, and the park should be open by July 1.

“I’m very excited about this,” Town Supervisor Frank Petrone said. “We worked very closely with the family and the developer. It’s the perfect spot for a spray park and memorial for the officer.”

Petrone said the town also plans to build a second spray park at Manor Field in Huntington Station by the James D. Conte Center on Fifth Street.

“I’m hoping the one at Manor Field opens this summer as well,” Petrone said.