A dispute over the future of Kings Point Park is shaping the race for Great Neck Park District commissioner, pitting incumbent Tina Stellato against challenger Nancy Sherman, a leading advocate for preserving the park.

Stellato, 50, is seeking a fourth term as commissioner. She was first elected in 2017 and began her term in January 2018. Before joining the board, she spent more than 17 years as a tennis professional at Parkwood Tennis and received a tennis scholarship to St. John’s University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in elementary education. During her tenure, the district has acquired new parkland, renovated facilities, expanded recreational and cultural programming and increased recreation revenue.

Sherman, in her 60s, is a Great Neck attorney who moved to the community in 1995 and raised two daughters there. She has served on the Village of Thomaston Board of Trustees since 2023. She is also the founder of Save Kings Point Park, a grassroots community organization formed in 2025 to oppose proposed changes to Kings Point Park and advocate for preserving the park and its recreational and natural resources.

The Kings Point dispute centers partly on the unusual ownership arrangement at the roughly 170-acre park. The Village of Kings Point owns the property and leases it to the Great Neck Park District.

In 2025, the village sought state legislation to alienate 2.48 acres of the park for a proposed nearly 400-space parking lot serving a community center being built by the United Mashadi Jewish Community of America. The legislation called for replacement parkland, while the Park District said the proposal would ultimately provide substantially more parkland than was being removed.

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The Park District’s official statement said the proposed exchange would remove 2.48 acres from the Kings Point Park lease in exchange for 5.67 acres of the former Wildwood Pool and Tennis Club property. Stellato said the Wildwood property was privately owned and that the proposal represented an opportunity for the district to gain parkland that was not previously public parkland. The district said the new property, along with nearly 8 acres of contiguous village-owned wetlands, could provide about 13.5 acres of additional parkland.

“I was absolutely for the land swap,” Stellato said. She argued that the proposal would result in a net gain of parkland for Park District residents.

Sherman takes the opposite position. “I would never agree to give any of our parkland away,” she said, arguing the Park District should not have supported the proposed alienation and that residents should have been informed and given an opportunity to weigh in before the legislation was introduced.

She also said that, if elected, she would oppose any legislation to remove parkland and, if outvoted, would push for public hearings and a full environmental review before any changes were made.

The legislation passed the state Senate in June 2025 but stalled in the Assembly. The Senate bill was later stricken in March 2026. The dispute also prompted a lawsuit by residents challenging the Village of Kings Point’s environmental review of the proposed alienation.

Beyond Kings Point Park, both candidates support more pickleball opportunities. Stellato wants dedicated pickleball courts, along with continued improvements such as the Steppingstone Park splash pad and Thomaston Park. Sherman has proposed a state-of-the-art indoor pickleball facility at Memorial Field and has emphasized park maintenance, financial transparency and fuller use of existing properties.

The election is Dec. 8 from 1 to 9 p.m. Three commissioners serve staggered three-year terms, with one seat elected each year. The district has four election districts with separate polling locations.