New York Islanders, Government Officials Announce New Arena Plan; Taxpayers To Vote August 1

Officials, including Islanders owner Charles Wang, Nassau County Executive Charles Mangano and Town of Hempstead Supervisor Kate Murray, Wednesday announced a $350 million plan to develop the Coliseum site, including a new 17,500-seat hockey arena that the Islanders could call home. The plan also calls for a minor league baseball stadium on the site and a casino on the Belmont Park site nine miles away.

The plan will go to the voters in a special election on August 1, a date that’s suddenly been circled by thousands of Islanders fans. If it passes, the wheels could be in motion to break ground on the new building by spring. The Isles’ lease with the current Coliseum ends in 2015, so the hope is to complete the new building in time for the 2015-16 NHL season.

It’s a much different plan than the original Lighthouse Project proposed by Wang several years ago, which was officially shelved last year. That plan was extravagant in just about every way, but complicated local politics and a hard stand by Hempstead Supervisor Murray ultimately killed it. She hasn’t made friends with Islanders fans over that stand, either.

The key difference is the use of taxpayer dollars in this new plan. They’re voting to throw more taxpayer money into the plan, which obviously is in the best interest of the County given that the alternative is a giant, empty 77-acre parking lot right in the heart of the place. But when compared next to the Lighthouse Project, which outside of infrastructure costs would have been completely covered by Wang and the Islanders, it seems a little strange.

But, these are local politics, in New York State nonetheless, and we won’t get too caught up in all of that. Let Lighthouse Hockey, SB Nation’s Islanders blog, deal with that sort of thing.

For now, we wait until August 1, when the fate of the team will be decided by the voters in Nassau County.