July 11, 2013 -- The county Board of Acquisition and Contract on Thursday gave its unanimous approval of a lease between the county and the Westchester Children's Museum for space at the renovated bathhouse at Playland Amusement Park.

"This is an important step forward," said County Executive Robert P. Astorino. "I have always supported the concept of a Children's Museum at Playland, and now we have the framework for it to be integrated into our overall vision for reinventing Playland by saving the traditions and creating new year-round attractions."

Astorino has selected Sustainable Playland Inc. (SPI) to be the operator of the county-owned  park in Rye. An asset management agreement has previously been approved by the Board of Acquisition and Contract (A&C).

In a July 9 letter, Corinne Zola, president of the Westchester Children's Museum, confirmed that the museum recognizes that it will operate under the management umbrella of SPI, although it will be a separate vendor, and that it will cooperate with SPI as it seeks approvals of its Playland Improvement Plan.

"We are very happy to see this moving forward," said Tracy R. Kay, executive director of the museum, who attended Thursday's A&C meeting.     

The next step will be a formal signing of various agreements between the county, the museum and SPI, which will be scheduled for later this month.