The 220-acre Jamesport State Park and Preserve and the view from its mile-long beach should be on every Long Islander's "things to see before I die" list.

Just don't plan a family picnic there anytime soon.

Suffolk Times photo by Barbaraellen Koch A sign posted at a boundary of Jamesport State Park and Preserve.

Almost six years since the state purchased the property and an adjoining 300 acres from KeySpan Energy for $16 million, no-trespassing signs still mark trees on the park's perimeter.

And the $4.3 million the state secured to build access roads, parking areas and an environmental education center, among other proposals, has yet to be spent.

"There were lots of announcements but nothing has happened," said Richard Wines, president of the Hallockville Museum Farm that borders the park. "They promised that Hallockville and other community residents would be involved when they do start planning. So basically, they haven't done any planning yet.

Suffolk Times photo by Barbaraellen Koch Members of the East End Livestock and Horsemen's Association take trail rides in the spring and fall each year after getting permission from the state parks department.

"It'd be nice to have the park open," Mr. Wines said.

At a May 2005 press event, held at Hallockville, Gov. George Pataki announced that the state had raised $3.3 million from the sale of the remaining 300 acres to farmers.

The money was to be used for infrastructure improvements and public access to the park, he said.

More than a year later, State Senator Ken LaValle (R-Port Jefferson) held his own press conference, at which he handed a $1 million check to then-parks commissioner Bernadette Castro.

"Since I began working on this project," Senator LaValle said at the October 2006 event, "I always dreamed of developing an education center where people come to learn about the environment. We believe $1 million can make that dream a reality."

Today, there are no roads leading to the park, no lifeguards and the only people who seem to frequent it are local nature groups (after clearance from the state) and rogue ATV users.

"It's certainly odd. Nothing has been done there," said Riverhead Town Supervisor Phil Cardinale, who attended the press conference with Mr. Pataki in 2005. "Even access to the park is not possible until a roadway is placed from Sound Avenue to the beachfront area.

"I'm hopeful that it will be soon forthcoming, so that we can reap the rewards of what will almost certainly be a really extraordinary spot for the public to recreate at.

"It's a gorgeous place, but until it's accessible, it's just a word -- park."

Reached by phone, Senator LaValle said the no-trespassing signs were "an issue I will have to talk to them about," especially given the time of year.

"We're approaching the summer," he said. "They probably don't have the personnel to be there to supervise people. But it's too valuable a property to close it off. People should be enjoying it. Particularly this year, when people may want to stay closer to home and enjoy the best of Long Island."

Mr. LaValle said that after speaking last year with the current state parks commissioner Carol Ash, he had expected an education center groundbreaking by this fall.

"That $1 million came from the budget two years ago," he said. "It's reserved for this specific purpose, so it can't be spent for any other purpose. Money is not an issue here."

He later said, through an aide, that he and parks department officials are planning to hold a press conference about the park, and declined to comment further.

After several calls placed by a reporter, a spokeswoman for the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation said the department will soon begin the 12- to 18-month-long process of developing a master plan for the park, which is required before any work begins.

"I can't speak for decisions that were made in a prior administration and how things moved or didn't move, but we recognize that Jamesport is lacking any kind of real access for the public," said the spokeswoman, Eileen Larrabee.

"The commissioner has identified, as a priority, master planning," she continued. "This year we are doing a half-dozen master plans across the state, and Jamesport would be among the first. I would imagine that sometime within the next couple of months there would be a public meeting."

Meanwhile, Riverhead Town continues to lose more than half the roughly $835,000 a year in taxes it had been receiving prior to the state's takeover.

Because of tax exemptions, the state pays only $212,200 annually on the park, with the remaining 300 acres, as well as land that houses a power station, bringing in some $180,000 per year.

The park, which is not actually in Jamesport but in the hamlet of Northville, stretches from just east of Manor Lane to the west and to Hallock Lane to the east, extending to Long Island Sound from Sound Avenue and spanning Northville and a small portion of Mattituck.

According to Hallockville's Mr. Wines, during the 1960s the property was the site of an illegal sand mining operation whose owners operated under the guise of building a deep-water port. Before the state took title in 2003, the land had been owned by the former Long Island Lighting Company, which planned to build nuclear plants there in the 1970s.

The property came under control of KeySpan Energy in 1998, following LILCO's dissolution.

Before the state bought it from KeySpan, the property had drawn interest from various developers, including Donald Trump. But a campaign to preserve it, led by Audubon New York, an environmental group, finally succeeded -- to much fanfare.

"Audubon New York's number one land protection project for 2002 was the magnificent 530-acre jewel in the Town of Riverhead on the Long Island Sound, known as the Keyspan-Jamesport property," the group wrote in its 2002-03 annual report. "The property spans more than a mile of shorefront on the Sound and will provide magnificent recreational and educational opportunities that may include swimming, fishing and a nature center."

Despite its current main use as an illegal ATV park, Maureen Cullinane, president of the North Fork Audobon Society, said she remains optimistic that the dreams of nature-lovers, politicians and other taxpayers alike will one day come to fruition.

"State parks are an entity that tend to do things in a wonderful way, when they get going, and I imagine that would happen here as well," she said. "With any bureaucracy, it does take a minute, but I'm sure when it's planned and implemented, it will be wonderful."

A section of the educational center proposed by Mr. LaValle is expected to house offices for Audubon New York, which will take part in the planning process.

"We would like to preserve the natural features of the park as much as possible -- and the natural habitat that is there -- but make sure it is welcoming to individuals for passive recreation," Ms. Cullinane said.

She blamed the need for no-trespassing signs on the ATV riders, who enjoy the park for its hilly terrain, sand dunes and sand trails.

"Today an entity has to respond to the lowest common denominator," she said. "So it's really tricky. But you want people to enjoy it. We bring groups for bird-watching in there, and it's really a wonderful experience."