Saturday, April 26, 2025
After Hurricane Sandy wreaked havoc on Long Island in 2012, the state set aside funding to increase storm resiliency in Malverne and other local communities.
Money was allocated to the village, but was never put to use — until now.
When Tim Sullivan was elected to the village’s board of trustees in 2019, former Mayor Keith Corbett tasked him with figuring out a project that would use the allocated funds.
Sullivan dreamed up a revitalization project centered on Whelan Field, where he grew up playing baseball, and the nearby creek, Pine Stream, which travels from above West Hempstead’s Halls Pond and through Rockville Centre, before merging into the Mill River. The stream follows along Ocean Avenue in Malverne and could be viewed from Whelan Field.
“I envisioned doing a scenic walk along Pine Stream, going from Coral Court down to Pinebrook Avenue,” Sullivan, who is now the mayor, said.
The main feature of the plan, called the Pine Stream Extension Project, is construction of a water retention system that will mitigate local flooding, while also revitalizing Whelan Field.
The pitch for the project was accepted by the state in 2020, who then granted Malverne $7 million to fund the project in its entirety. Corbett, alongside representatives from the Melville-based engineering firm, H2M architects + engineers, unveiled the renovation plans in October of 2022, officially breaking ground on the project in June of 2024.
While there is no definitive completion date, as the harsh winter weather has caused delays, the park is expected to be open by the summer, village officials said.
On Feb. 19, Mayor Sullivan took the Herald on a tour of the site to provide an update on construction.
“This is really exciting,” Sullivan shared. “The former mayor and I call it ‘transformational’ for the village. We’ve never put this kind of money into any park in our village, certainly not in one shot.”
The renovated Whelan Field will feature a quarter-mile scenic walk that loops around the park and follows along the stream. The cement path will be lined with lights and benches surrounded by trees and native plants.
To align with goals set by the state, the walk will feature educational placards that were created with the help of the Malverne Historical Society, highlighting the history of the field, the stream, the importance of environmental conservatorship, and the drainage basin under the two fields.
Public workout stations will be scattered throughout the field, and a fenced-in dog park, split into dedicated areas for large and small dogs, will be added. This area will include interactive jumps and fountains for the dogs.
During construction, workers discovered that the baseball fields at Whelan slope upward, so an aim of the construction is to level the fields.
“We’re making them fully compliant with Little League standards and everything like that,” Sullivan said. “We’ll be able to do a lot of Little League tournaments down here and everything like that.
“It’s going to be incredible for the kids,” he added.
Alongside the two renovated fields, the concession stand will be refurbished, and new outfield seating and scoreboards will be installed. Also included in the construction plans is a paved parking lot, along with a nearby slab of concrete, which will become a dedicated picnic area under a pavilion for shade.
“So you (could) have a barbecue during games and fundraisers, or the civic association or the village can have different events down here,” Sullivan remarked. “And when you’re up at this height, you can actually watch the games going on too.”
However, the construction of a storm basin underneath the baseball fields remains the central reason for this project.
“What we’ve done here, is under these two fields now is a whole drainage system,” Sullivan explained. “So in the next storm, when water comes down from Ocean Avenue and the creek overflows, it actually collects under the field.”
Whelan Field was previously a pond that, at some point, was filled in. Sullivan explained that the large amount of water that quickly built up during Sandy had nowhere to run after years of filling in back bays, swamps and estuaries around Long Island.
“So we’re recreating a natural drainage area down here, and we’re getting the benefits of rehabbing our fields,” he said.
The project will also showcase a historical structure on the scenic walk. At the end of the path is a near–century-old stone Long Island Rail Road trestle that travels over the stream.
“I’ve been told it’s the last of two remaining stone trestles in their entire system,” the mayor said. “So we thought it would be neat to curve the path all the way back there and have a historical placard that talks a little bit about it.”
Nassau County owns Pine Stream and is responsible for maintaining it. The county also owns the Whelan Field property, which, according to Sullivan, Malverne is in the process of purchasing. The village has been leasing the property since the 1950s and oversees field maintenance, along with the current construction.
“It’s really exciting,” Sullivan shared. “I don’t think the residents really have an idea of how exciting and historically impactful this development is for the village.
“I know it sounds junky, but the sound of the water and when things are blooming, everything is kind of pretty, in the spring, summer and fall,” he added. “We got a lot of cleanup to do, but I think it’s going to come out really nice.”
