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 CCA welcomed  Park manager, Sean  of Sunken Meadow  state park at our last  meeting.  He  advised us of the  latest plans for  the  park so its 3.5 million visitors will continue to  have a beautiful space  for recreation. 

 This park  was created, in the 1930s,by Robert Moses out of  state land and an abandoned  gold coast  summer estate  . Due to his foresight our beaches are pristine and not loaded with tourist hotels as in other  states. The land owned by Sunken Meadow Park extends to Pulaski  road  on the  parkway. Park staff keep this open land clean .

There are 76,000 rounds of golf played on the  golf course, which is the second busiest  golf course in NY parks . Bethpage state park is the busiest, because they hosted the PGA championship on their  black  course. However  the Sunken Meadow course is equivalent to  Bethpage park's red course . The  privately run Pro shop will be adding a driving range for the golfers, so they will have more reasons to visit the park. Upgraded irrigation with sensors  is a new maintenance feature.

Lessings caterers have a 10 year contract to run the concessions in the park. NY receives a percentage of the sales receipts. Lessings offers wedding parties in a pavilion, on the west end of the boardwalk. At their expense they are  planning to add a bridal suite, as well as adding  bathrooms in the building , so wedding guests can stay in house. Lessings plans to add an ice cream parlor to another concession building as well as upgrade the  kitchens. The bathrooms were  all redone, paid by your tax dollars, and a  special  enclosed septic system is in place that is pumped out regularly, so there is no groundwater contamination from a cesspool. The main office was renovated, but the lines are still out the door, when people buy their NY park permits. The toll fees are given to the general fund in NY and not dedicated to the local beaches .The Park management of the beach is looking forward to installing solar panels on the roof of  the Field 4  building .New  parking areas will be added.. It is hoped that the old umbrella concession at the beach entrance  can be converted to a NY products and permits  concession in the future.

On the boardwalk, you may notice that there are new memorial benches. These cost $3000 and families have been purchasing them to remember their loved ones. You can  enjoy  boardwalk DJ  music on Sundays and line dancing on Thursdays this summer.

The park hosts two  running races. The January  winter event attracted  1000 runners ,down the parkway. The spring event usually attracts 4000 runners. The  park is a favored destination for cross country  training by high school and now college teams that like to run up cardiac hill! These  paths were leveled with crushed concrete.   The  beach has 7 Emergency Medical Technicians. Seven  AED defibrillators are available for medical emergencies.

Sunken Meadow  Park benefitted from Suffolk County's dredging of  the adjacent  Nissenquoge River, because 90,000 cubic yards of  that sand  was deposited on the  beachfront,  at no cost to the state budget. This helped save the beachfront  which lost a 4 foot dune  on the east side during storms.