Islanders: Judge Tosses Out Final Lawsuit Against Belmont Arena

ELMONT, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 23: Patrick Dowd holds up a sign at the groundbreaking ceremony for the New York Islanders hockey arena at Belmont Park on September 23, 2019 in Elmont, New York. The $1.3 billion facility, which will seat 19,000 and include shops, restaurants and a hotel, is expected to be completed in time for the 2021-2022 hockey season. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
ELMONT, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 23: Patrick Dowd holds up a sign at the groundbreaking ceremony for the New York Islanders hockey arena at Belmont Park on September 23, 2019 in Elmont, New York. The $1.3 billion facility, which will seat 19,000 and include shops, restaurants and a hotel, is expected to be completed in time for the 2021-2022 hockey season. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

According to Newsday, the final lawsuit filed by Floral Park and civic groups trying to reverse approval for Belmont Arena has been tossed out.

Here’s some good news for you on this Thursday morning. A judge has tossed out lawsuits files by the Village of Floral Park and other civic groups trying to reverse state approval of the Belmont Arena project.

What does this all mean? There is now nothing standing in the way of the New York Islanders and their new home.

Once the construction started, there was very little these lawsuits could do, so while this is just a formality it’s still nice to hear that there is nothing standing in the way of the Islanders new home going up (once construction goes back underway).

The claims and complaints made by the town in the first place were a real stretch. Traffic is the big one that comes up and the data that was pulled never made any sense.

Any time you looked at a protestors argument they were using the Belmont Stakes as reference for how bad traffic is going to be. Just a reminder, the Belmont Stakes usually has about 100,000 people in attendance.

At the absolute max, there will be one-fifth of that for the Islanders games. Using that comparison was always flawed. Tailgating was another thing that was an issue for some of the residents.

What kind of message does it send to the children?! Yes, sometimes individuals can get out of hand at a tailgate there’s no denying that, but I highly doubt the most problematic thing for these kids is being exposed to fans cooking in a parking lot and shooting a puck at a net before the game starts.

Once the coronavirus pandemic is over, the construction on the arena will restart along with the full-time LIRR station in the near future. One more time, the Belmont Arena is a good thing for the community.

Full-service LIRR station, shopping center, hotel, jobs, revenue. These are all good things! And for the haters:

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