Yorktown Establishes Parks Improvement Trust

The Town Board has created a capital improvements trust to fund renovation projects in parks.

The trust will be funded by about $143,000 in rent and fees that Yorktown expects to receive annually for the next 25 years for a solar array carport that will be installed at Granite Knolls Park’s parking lot. The trust fund can only be used for park improvements and not for employee salaries or other administrative costs.

“It’s going to put our parks department in an incredibly strong position financially,” said Supervisor Matt Slater. “The beauty of this is that we’re doing it at no expense to taxpayers.”

HESP Solar will install the solar panels, which provide shade for parked vehicles. HESP Solar also will install four electric vehicle charging stations at the park. The company has estimated that the project will reduce carbon dioxide—one of the gases that causes global warming—by as much as having 1,249 acres of mature forest. No trees will be cut during the installation of the array. HESP Solar’s first appearance before the Planning Board regarding the project was this week.

The trust fund money will help pay for projects like the ongoing renovation of the Town’s outdated playgrounds, some of which were recently closed because of safety concerns.

“It’s really one of the only things we should be doing with the money,” said Councilwoman Alice Roker.

Yorktown’s playground safety initiative included the demolition of Chelsea Park Playground this summer. Chelsea Park Playground is the seventh park to get a safety overhaul after Supervisor Slater and parks Superintendent James Martorano discovered that safety inspections had not been performed on the town’s parks in decades.

Last year, they commissioned a safety audit of seven parks and repairs on six of the parks were completed earlier this year.