Plans for Lovelady Park Could Be Ready for North Haven Residents' Review by Mid-Month

Barring any last-minute delays, North Haven Village Mayor Chris Fiore will present to the public a site plan for the park the village is developing at the former Lovelady Powell property and an adjoining lot at the Village Board’s May 15 meeting.

The mayor said that was his target date after a nearly 90-minute, circuitous discussion of the park — and the village’s plans for it — with the Southampton Town Board on Thursday, April 25. That presentation is dependent on the town’s Community Preservation Fund office signing off on the site plan.

Councilman Tommy John Schiavoni, a North Haven resident, has been pressing the mayor to submit a formal site plan for the park’s development since the village and town hosted a pair of informal hearings on the proposal last summer. The town is involved because the properties were purchased with CPF money.

Jacqueline Fenlon, the director of the towns’ CPF office, told the Town Board she had received the updated site plan a week ago, but had not yet been able to review it.

The site plan should be familiar to residents who have been following the park’s development. There is a walking path lined with maple trees along the former driveway to the Barclay estate, a pollinator garden, and a parking lot on the site of Powell’s house, which was torn down early last year as part of the agreement between the town and village because neither wanted the responsibility of maintaining it.

The park will also include a trail that, if completed as proposed, would make a loop around the property, which would be made possible by the construction of a bridge over a man-made pond.

After authorizing some clearing along the south side of the pond last year, Fiore found himself in hot water with residents who questioned whether he had received formal permission from the State Department of Environmental Conservation. They expressed concern over his fast-paced approach to developing the park and complained he was ignoring their input.

The extent of clearing and the proposed bridge became two principal points of contention. The impasse led Schiavoni to call for the informal hearings last summer. After public opinion was collected, village officials met with CPF officials to go over the plans, with the town requesting a formal site plan. Although the village submitted some sketches, Schiavoni said it remained incomplete.

Earlier this year, before the formal site plan was submitted, Fiore requested permission to clear invasive species from the north side of the pond. He said a landscaping company had agreed to do the work, which he estimated to be valued at $40,000, for free. Fiore has sought to have all improvements to the park, except for consulting, covered by a nonprofit that was set up for that purpose.