[dropcap]A[/dropcap] roller coaster ride between the management company Standard Amusements and Westchester County came to a close on Monday night after the county Board of Legislators voted overwhelmingly to move forward with a 30-year agreement transferring control of Rye Playland. “I cannot be more thankful to County Executive [Rob] Astorino and the Westchester Board of Legislators for their vote of confidence,” said cofounder of Standard Amusements Nicholas Singer, who sat in the audience as the votes were cast. “This is a wonderful day for Westchester.”
On May 2, the Board of Legislators approved the agreement—which has undergone several transformations since its introduction in June 2015—committing the county and its taxpayers to $32 million in capital improvements for the ailing amusement park. The final vote passed by a margin of 13-4.
While many legislators from both sides of the political aisle accepted the agreement, touting its pragmatism, Democratic legislators Catherine Parker of Rye, Ken Jenkins of Yonkers, Catherine Borgia of Ossining and Alfreda Williams of White Plains outright rejected it.
“When you have a partner, that means you’re sharing in the risk, and sharing in the reward,” Jenkins said at Monday’s meeting. “But if we want to sit here and try to suggest this is a partnership arrangement; our partner is putting up $5 million in four months, we’re putting up $32 million, tonight… I don’t know what you call that.”
The ratified agreement will see Standard expand on its initial investment of $5 million, which will go toward new rides, and eventually invest another $27 million of its own money into the park over the course of a 5-year period.
For now, the county will continue to co-manage the park with Standard, and according to county administration officials, the company will take over full control of the park’s management after 50 percent of the county’s agreed to capital investments have been made.
Tentatively, the administration has set a date for transition for Nov. 1, 2018.
According to the agreement, when the county has expended 50 percent of the $32 million in proposed capital projects, they will also begin sharing 8 percent of Standard’s profits; a number that will incrementally rise to 12 percent by the deal’s end.
Projects outlined in the deal include rehabilitation of the park’s shoreline, infrastructure and new rides.
Some members of the Democratic caucus have repeatedly warned against the agreement’s lack of profit sharing throughout deliberations, however.
“If Standard wants to have a good public-private partnership with the county, they should go back and think about what they could offer,” Parker told the Review last week.
A former, more expensive iteration of the agreement, which was introduced in March, would have put taxpayers on the line for $58 million in proposed capital projects, with the inclusion of costly projects for the park’s colonnades and tower, totaling $20 million.
Critical renovations to the park’s historic pool were also removed from the current agreement after costs to improve the structure soared to an estimated $10 million.
The agreement struck between the county and Standard comes after years of negotiations between the administration of Republican County Executive Rob Astorino and various private partners. As one of his goals upon taking elected office in 2010, Astorino set out to alter the future of Playland, sending out a request for proposals to reinvent the park for the 21st century that same year.
Previously, in 2014, a proposed agreement between the county administration and Rye-based nonprofit Sustainable Playland Inc., Astorino’s preferred choice, was shot down after pushback from Rye residents who decried the agreement’s addition of an 82,000-square-foot field Rye-based nonprofit Sustainable Playland Inc., Astorino’s preferred choice, was shot down after pushback from Rye residents who decried the agreement’s addition of an 82,000-square-foot field house in the park’s parking lot which abutted a residential neighborhood.
Now, however, Astorino’s administration is confident that the newest deal will benefit both taxpayers and the 88-yearold amusement park’s future.
“We started with a blank piece of paper for how to save Playland six years ago,” Astorino, a Republican, said in a released statement following ratification of the agreement with Standard.
“Now we are taking a historic step forward. The capital, the operator and the vision are in place to protect both taxpayers and the Dragon Coaster for years to come.”
Playland will open for the season on Saturday, May 7.
