What’s coming to Martha Avenue Park?

This summer and last, the Town of Brookhaven Department of Parks, Recreation and Sports, and Cultural Resources has been providing upgrades to Martha Avenue’s Tony Gazzola Park in North Bellport.

Beginning last year, town parks commissioner Ed Morris said they completed the renovation of the softball fields converting them to turf, while also adding a fourth field, scoreboards, a pergola and a sun shelter.

Currently, the town is laying down turf on one of the four multipurpose soccer, football, lacrosse, fields with plans to complete the other two in the coming one to two years. The town, he said, will also be installing two pickleball courts to be completed by this fall.

The park, which has been slowly revamped over the past few years according to Morris, has not seen a renovation this big in a “long time.” He estimates total costs of recent and planned additions as well as renovations at over $5 million.

“It’s definitely one of our bigger facilities, and it was time for renovations so that the community can enjoy it,” he said, noting that both the South Country Soccer and Bellport Youth Football leagues utilize the park. “The girls fast-pitch plays here, too, and now that it’s even nicer, we hosted the New York State softball championship.”

According to supervisor Daniel J Panico, the town has invested heavily in their parks system and open spaces, including 11 new pickleball courts that were added to town parks, in the amount of $225,000, as part of the Parks Capital Budget.

Earlier this month, Panico said the town made an application to the Long Island Regional Development Council for funds to accelerate their plans for renovations at Martha Avenue Park.

“We are going forward with renovations to the turf field and a total replacement of the lighting system as well,” he added. “Whether it be new housing, new transit-oriented redevelopment, renewed parks, the demolition of blighted structures, the continued crackdown on illegal housing, etc., we are making a difference in the North Bellport community and renewing the faith of the people in their government.”

Councilman Michael Loguercio said he is excited about finishing the softball fields and putting in a new AstroTurf multipurpose field.

“We are very proud of our parks in Brookhaven Town and we strive to maintain and improve them constantly so that all our residents can enjoy them,” Loguercio said of the project.