Zone, Zone, Zone Those Residences Fast!

An elegy for the Balloon Water Race Game. Long live the Balloon Water Race Game:

Astroland completed another season yesterday, but its flashy neon lights may never again brighten the boardwalk.

Last November, Carol and Jerome Albert, whose family has owned Astroland since it opened in 1962, sold the property for an undisclosed price to a developer, Thor Equities. The developer plans to erect a new park, hotel, restaurants and time-share units on 10 acres of land between West 10th and West 15th Streets and south of Surf Avenue in the Brooklyn neighborhood; Astroland occupies about one-third of that area.

The Cyclone, the wooden roller coaster, which is part of Astroland, has been an official city landmark since 1988 and therefore is not in danger of being destroyed for the project.

The project could be completed by 2011, but it cannot start until the city approves a zoning change, a process that is likely to be long and hotly contested, since many local residents are opposed to the construction of tall, high-density structures at the beachfront spot. Most of the area is now zoned for entertainment use.

City officials have also voiced concern about the proposal. Janel Patterson, a spokeswoman for the city’s Economic Development Corporation, said in an interview that “high-density residential is not appropriate for the core entertainment or amusement district.”

“The main goal of the rezoning would be to expand and improve the amusement district, while maintaining Coney Island’s iconic and unique nature,” Ms. Patterson added.

Ms. Albert said that her family paid $170,000 to lease the land this season, which began in April, and that they hoped to lease it again in 2008, but said that the developer wanted $3 million this time, a price she calls “way beyond what we could afford.”

“I don’t understand why they’re asking for so much, since there seems to be no reason in the rational world not to keep us there another year if they can’t do anything with the property until the zoning is changed,” Ms. Albert said. “We’re hoping for an 11th-hour change of heart, but as each day passes, our hopes grow dimmer.”

Posters taped to ticket booths and poles issued a plea to the developer: “Give Us One More Year.”

A spokesman for Thor Equities, Stefan Friedman, said: “Thor remains in negotiation to extend Astroland’s lease,” adding that “no matter the outcome of this negotiation, Thor is totally committed to having amusement and games in the neighborhood for years to come.”

Location Scout: Coney Island Amusement Core.