Politics & Government

Avella Holds Unofficial Groundbreaking Ceremony for Little Neck Bay Comfort Station

State senator is joined by Bayside community leaders to celebrate construction of long-awaited project.

State Sen. Tony Avella joined Bayside residents Tuesday morning for an unofficial groundbreaking for the long-awaited comfort station at Little Neck Bay.

The city recently broke ground on the $5 million project, which has been in the works for eight years.

The comfort station, which will include a new public restroom and an expanded 224-car parking lot with bioswales to absorb runoff, is expected to be completed by fall 2014, according to the city's Parks Department.

Find out what's happening in Bayside-Douglastonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“It’s been eight years in the making, but we will finally get a comfort station at Little Neck Bay,” said Avella, D-Bayside. “It shocks me that the city does not want to do a groundbreaking for the project, but it’s probably because they are embarrassed that it took so long.”

But the state senator said the city would hold an official ribbon cutting ceremony for the upgraded park next year.

Find out what's happening in Bayside-Douglastonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The project, which also includes the planting of new trees and shrubs at the site, is funded through $2.3 million allocated by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, $2 million in federal transportation grants and $720,000 from the City Council.

Prior to being approved, the project was reviewed by the state’s Department of Transportation as well as the Department of Environmental Conservation, which looked into evidence of archeological significance at the site.

But Avella said the project’s delay “mushroomed into a bureaucratic nightmare.”

“It’s been eight years since the city had the money and did nothing with the project, but it’s been 10 years since we started advocating for it,” said Warren Schreiber, president of the Bay Terrace Community Alliance. “We had millions of dollars but, for years, all we had to show for it was Porta Potties.”

Bayside resident Phil Konigsberg said he had also long been involved in attempting to get the comfort station built at Little Bay Park.

“I remember standing out here, holding a sign saying, ‘Build a park and people will come, but where will they go?’” he said. “It’s time to get this done.”


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

More from Bayside-Douglaston