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The city’s former parks commissioner had serious concerns about the proposed Metropolitan Park casino in Queens before it was approved by the state, noting the potential to increase flooding in the area and restrict parks access, documents shared with The City Reporter show.

Sue Donoghue, who left the Parks Department as commissioner in June 2025, wrote her fears in an internal November 2024 memo which was prepared for the agency's capital division to submit to the Public Design Commission. The commission is still in the process of approving specific elements of the project, and held another hearing Tuesday.

The state gaming commission approved the casino project alongside the nearby Resorts World in Jamaica and Bally’s in The Bronx last December. Construction is underway at the parking lot surrounding Citi Field, where the 50-acre project will be built.

To win approval for Metropolitan Park, on the site of a Citi Field parking lot, Mets owner Steve Cohen agreed to pay a $500 million fee and hundreds of millions more in anticipated tax revenue, along with a promise to invest more than $8 billion, in exchange for the 30-year gaming license.

The site of the future casino on the parking lots around Citi Field are legally parkland, and required state legislation to allow development.

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Metropolitan’s community outreach was broad, including multiple meetings and donations to local organizations. They retained 11 separate lobbying firms, spending more than $1.6 million in 2025, according to the city’s lobbying report.

Metropolitan Park is centered around a casino to be operated by Hard Rock International, but also includes an entertainment complex, a hotel, a parking structure and parkland.

Donoghue, though, said the proposed park didn’t “fully align” with city parks design standards, according to the memo.

She also shared concerns over accessibility to the new park, its maintenance, when it would be open, and how it could integrate with Flushing Meadows Corona Park, the borough’s largest.

“We are supportive of the creation and development of public open spaces and recreation opportunities in this location,” she wrote.

“This masterplan includes primarily passive use of green space and a limited mix of active recreation spaces,” she wrote. “It lacks fundamental qualities that would make it a true asset to the local community and the city overall.”

She continued that “as designed, some aspects of the masterplan may make the visitor experience of those who use and travel to Flushing Meadows Corona Park worse.”

In her memo, Donoghue asked the developers to “share examples of thriving and welcoming public open spaces next to casino resorts ,” noting the Parks Department hadn’t found any good existing examples.