Land Purchase Was Approved by Voters May 2025 and Finalized by the Board in June 2026; Some Residents Say They First Learned of It From a Letter Last Week
NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. (Aug. 7, 2026) — Residents who live near New Rochelle High School’s McKenna Field say they were caught off guard this month by a letter announcing new parking restrictions on streets they’ve long used for parking near their own homes. But records show the change is the tail end of a process that has been moving through the school district and City Hall for more than a year.
The Letter
In an Aug. 3 letter addressed to “Neighbor of New Rochelle High School,” Principal Dagoberto Artiles informed residents that parking on the perimeter of McKenna Field is now reserved for New Rochelle High School students and faculty from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. when school is in session. Vehicles must display an NRHS parking permit; unpermitted cars parked in those spaces during restricted hours will be towed at the owner’s expense, according to the letter.
How the District Got the Land
The parking change follows the City School District of New Rochelle’s acquisition of land surrounding McKenna Field from the City of New Rochelle.
The purchase traces back to a 2025 school district budget presentation that listed, among its capital priorities, a proposal to purchase property adjacent to the high school for $1.
Voters approved that plan on May 20, 2025, as part of the district’s annual budget vote. According to the district’s official election results release, voters “approved a proposition to purchase for $1 from the City of New Rochelle land surrounding the high school currently used for student and staff parking,” which the release said would let the district “assume the care and maintenance of the property.” The same ballot also passed the district’s $359.5 million 2025-26 budget, 3,976 to 2,046.
More than a year later, on June 17, 2026, the Board of Education formally authorized the purchase. Resolution No. 26-258, approved as part of the board’s consent agenda, authorized the board president “to execute all documents related to the purchase” of vacant real property surrounding McKenna Field on Clove Road and Flandreau Avenue — identified in city tax records as Section 5, Block 1580, Lots 0001 and 0001A — for $1, citing the voter-approved proposition from May 2025.
What’s Still Unclear
The gap of more than a year between the voter approval and the board’s execution of the sale may help explain why the Aug. 3 letter felt sudden to some residents, even though each step of the process was conducted at public meetings.
Several open questions remain, and Talk of the Sound has sent an inquiry to the City of New Rochelle seeking answers:
Is any part of the land being transferred part of a public roadway, and questioned whether the city needed New York State approval to convey it. As a general rule under state law, municipalities do not need state legislative approval to discontinue or sell a street. However, land that has been dedicated for park use is treated differently — courts have held that alienating dedicated parkland for a non-park purpose requires specific approval from the state Legislature. Whether any portion of the parcels involved here was ever mapped as a street or formally dedicated as parkland has not been established.
The city’s role in the transaction — including whether Corporation Counsel researched such questions before the sale — has not yet been detailed publicly.
Talk of the Sound has reached out to the City of New Rochelle for comment on the transaction and is awaiting a response. This story will be updated.
This article was prepared with the assistance of AI tools under the direction and editing of Robert Cox.*
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