Town of Hempstead agrees to transfer marina property to Village of Freeport

The Guy Lombardo Marina in Freeport may become village property under an agreement reached with the Town of Hempstead, which owns the land, subject to approval by the State Legislature.

The Hempstead Town Board on Wednesday approved a home rule message asking Albany to pass a measure that would allow the town to transfer ownership of the parkland to the village. The town board had originally been scheduled to vote on it at its Tuesday meeting, but the vote was delayed until it received written assurances from the village that the property would remain parkland in perpetuity, town officials said. 

“As the Village has been operating the marina for over a year, transferring the marina officially to them makes sense for a number of reasons for both the Town and the Village, and will allow the Village to make a number of upgrades,” town spokesman Brian Devine said in an email.

Village attorney Howard Colton said taking over the marina would allow the village to make improvements and do maintenance more quickly than the town can. 

"It’s a lot easier for us because it’s located right in the village so if there’s a problem, there's damage or something or a bulkhead needs to be replaced, we can do it a lot quicker than the town can," Colton said. "There’s a lot of improvements that the village would like to do — all new bulkheading there, changing it around a little bit, from a standpoint of just sprucing it up."

Last year the town licensed the 284-slip marina to the village for 100 years — defined in the agreement as four consecutive 25-year terms. A license can be terminated with or without cause. Under the license agreement, if the town were to terminate the license without cause, the village could recoup some of its investments in capital improvements made to the property, according to the licensing agreement.

That agreement allowed the village to sublicense the operation to a private operator. The village last year entered into a sublicense with Guy Lombardo Marina Inc., a company formed by Eric and Richard Collins, two principals of Capitol Marine Enterprises. Under the terms of the sublicense, the operator will pay the village 30% of its revenue from summer and winter dockage and storage fees, with a guaranteed minimum of $10,000 per month. The village would also receive 15% of revenue from additional work the company performs on the site. The village trustees approved a sublicense for two years, with options to renew for up to 25 years. 

Jeff Kalibat, president of New York Marine Trades Association and owner of a marina in Island Park, said the terms of sublicense were generous to the operator.

"A 30% return? You could do a lot better with somebody else," Kalibat said. "To me that sounds like a killer deal."

Colton said the village has been in discussions with the operator about improvements that can be made to property. 

Under the proposed state legislation to authorize the property transfer, the marina would be required to continue to offer access to the parkland and boat slips to Hempstead town residents at the same price as village residents.

“In the agreement to transfer the property to the Village of Freeport, certain protections are written in that would prevent the Village from making the marina Freeport residents only,” Devine said. “Going forward, it will remain open to any Town of Hempstead resident who wishes to utilize it.”

Four town employees had been assigned to the marina before it was licensed to the village last year and were subsequently reassigned, Devine said in a text message.