The State Supreme Court’s Appellate Division has affirmed an earlier decision granting the Village of Freeport ownership of a field on Cleveland Avenue, five years after the Freeport school district sued to gain ownership of the property. The litigation has cost village taxpayers nearly $900,000 in legal expenses.
The Sept. 23 decision by the Appellate Division’s Second Judicial Department upheld a 2024 ruling that the village holds the rights to the 17.5-acre Cleveland Avenue parkland property. Residents and school officials united in opposition to the village’s claim to the property after officials announced an interest in selling it to Amazon in 2021.
“I’m extremely satisfied with the decision of the courts, and look forward to working with the superintendent of schools and the new president of the school board,” Mayor Robert Kennedy said. “It is decided and finished — the Village of Freeport owns the property, and the school is a licensee of that property.”
The mayor also clarified his position on the property’s use, adding, “It’s going to remain a park space.”
The school district spent more than $800,000 to litigate the matter, according to Kennedy. Village Attorney Howard Colton said the village spent about $80,000, a total kept relatively low because Colton represented the village in most of the legal proceedings, and he is a salaried employee.
The school district did not directly respond to the Herald’s questions about the court’s ruling, but did provide a statement from Michael Pomerico, president of the Board of Education.
“We have instructed our legal counsel to cease any future legal action related to the Cleveland Avenue property,” Pomerico wrote. “The district will not be appealing the court’s ruling. We will continue to work with the Village of Freeport to reach an equitable agreement that will provide for the continued use of the property for the benefit of the children and families of Freeport.”
Colton was a prominent supporter of Pomerico when he ran for a seat on the school board this spring. Both have been publicly critical of past school board leaders, particularly former Trustee Sunday Coward, who was vice president of the board when the school district initially sued the village in September 2021.
The village was first granted the land in 1946 by the Long Island Parks Commission, which has since been abolished, its responsibilities assumed by several state departments. The school district had argued that a 1949 document from the commission granted an easement of the parkland to the district.
Families and district sports teams used the Cleveland Avenue field for decades leading up to the lawsuit over the village’s plan to sell the land to Amazon. The school district, led at the time led by Superintendent Kishore Kuncham and board President Maria Jordan-Awalom, had gained public support from parents and community organizations in opposition to the village.
In an article published by the village on its website July 2022, it claimed, without directly naming Amazon, that developing the property would result in a 20 percent tax reduction for residents and businesses over four years and create 320 jobs. The village also said it had offered Cow Meadow Park, which was undergoing a $7 million renovation at the time, to the school district to use instead of the “old muddy fields” on Cleveland Avenue.
The village’s Amazon plans came to an end when Gov. Kathy Hochul vetoed a bill backed by village officials that would have removed the Cleveland Avenue property’s designation as parkland and could have facilitated the sale of the property to Amazon.
Since then, the village has seemingly walked back its interest in selling the property, and has promised residents continued access to the land as a park and pledged that the school district, and anyone else, could obtain a temporary license from the village for private use of the field.
“We have no problem with anybody using the fields,” Colton told the Herald. “The village is happy with anyone wanting to use the field, but obviously the schools are going to use it more.”
