Adventure Sports Park Proposed for Quarry in Verplanck
The owners of a Connecticut adventure sports park are looking to make a splash in the Town of Cortlandt by bringing their thrills and spills to a former quarry in Verplanck.
Sean Hayes, President and CEO of Brownstone Exploration and Discovery Park in Portland, CT, made his pitch at a Verplanck Quarry Planning Meeting last week to utilize the 33-acre, approximately 300 feet deep quarry that has been illegally used for years by swimmers and divers as a family destination for water-themed fun.
“This is not an amusement park. We are not a 30-second thrill park. This is an adventure sports park,” Hayes explained. “We want the family to come out as a unit and play together.”
The quarry is part of a 99-acre parcel that Cortlandt purchased a few years ago from Con Edison. Since then, town officials have been entertaining a variety of proposals for the land.
Hayes said Brownstone, which has been in business since 2005, was prepared to invest $4 million to build out the adventure park and an adjoining boardwalk market.
The adventure park would include eight zip lines, cliff jumping, rock climbing, scuba diving, water obstacles and other activities. Hayes said the Verplanck quarry was an ideal location for everything Brownstone has to offer.
“This facility has a mystique about it. We don’t want to take that away,” he said. “It’s all about giving kids a chance to be kids in a safe environment. We will do everything to make it work for the local community.”
Stressing life jackets were required for all participants in the park, Hayes said Brownstone has never had a drowning incident. He said the park would create 250 seasonal jobs, including 50 lifeguards, and 20 year-round jobs. Access to the park is currently proposed through 13th Street.
“Everything we do will affect traffic in Verplanck,” said Supervisor-elect Dr. Richard Becker. “This is just the first toe in the water.”
“I think it looks great,” said committee member Michelle Piccolo Hill, a mother of four.
Plans for a $15 to $16 million, state-of-the-art, indoor sports facility on the same property were also outlined to the committee at Cortlandt Town Hall on Nov. 29.
The so-called “Cortlandt Pitch” project is designed to be a two-story, 58,000 square feet facility on about nine acres. NY Indoor Sports, Inc., headed by resident Martin Russo, was once planned to be built near Cortlandt Lanes in Crompond, but was relocated after opposition from neighbors who feared it would generate too much traffic.
Russo, who owns a law firm, explained the idea for an indoor sports venue came from a group of parents about seven years ago who became frustrated with the lack of recreational fields for youth sports in the area.
“I’m doing this because it became a project of passion,” Russo said. “It’s really been a lifelong dream.”
The main feature of the temperature-controlled building with roof solar panels is three equal size turf fields for soccer, lacrosse and other uses. There will also be training opportunities for sports teams and times for residents to utilize for exercise. A meeting/party room will be included, as will a large balcony for spectators.
The project is expected to generate 26 jobs and hundreds of thousands of dollars annually in taxes and lease payments. Besides the indoor facility, NY Indoor Sports will be spending another $1.5 million to build another outdoors field on the property next to existing Letteri Field.
Plans for a third business, Merchant’s Daughter Cider, a cider-making venture, were also discussed last week.
Rick has more than 40 years’ experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, running the gamut from politics and crime to sports and human interest. He has been an editor at Examiner Media since 2012. Read more from Rick’s editor-author bio here. Read Rick’s work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/pezzullo_rick-writer/
