… and now, more than a decade after it began, it’s officially over.

The Town Spokesperson Gordon Tepper wrote:

“This has been a long-standing issue for the community, dating back to 2013, and many residents expressed their desire to redevelop the land for the community. For many years we have been in litigation against the property owner over a breach in contract that would have allowed the Town to purchase the land. Unfortunately, after litigation, the Supreme Court of the State of New York and the Appellate Division have ruled in favor of the developer. While the Town is disappointed with the courts’ decisions, we have no choice but respect and abide by them.”

It seems the current Town spokesperson may be unaware that this issue long predates 2013, nor was the land simply in need of redevelopment, per se, but of preservation and use. The redevelopment was the Town’s proposal, where simply letting the neighborhood preserve and use the land, as our easement rights entitled us, was the neighborhood’s purpose.

Due to some odd decisions made more than a decade ago, the neighborhood went down a path to give our power to the Town. The legal team that was hired by the community in the early 2010s informed us of this predictable outcome. But the Civic Association at the time decided to put their focus on the Town plan, which had a great many pretty pictures, waterslides, jacuzzis, but little substance on key issues. The issue of the easement rights were never settled, which ensured any action by the Town would be unlikely to come to a successful outcome.

From the start, RoslynCountryClub.org decided not to try and be a hindrance to these efforts. Though skeptical, efforts to challenge the Town’s proposal were not made. If it was successful, the plan looked very nice.

Last month — and shared by the Town today — the State Supreme Court threw out the last legal case the Town had against the property owner. This outcome has been known for years, as the Town never allocated the appropriate amount of money to litigate the issue to a productive conclusion.

Each owner of property originally sold by Levitt is entitled to access to the Country Club. These rights remain. But as with all rights, they only extend as far as those willing to defend them. If we do not defend our rights, they are no longer rights.

We are the only ones who can save the Roslyn Country Club. It’s up to us.