You're right. Any proposed development brings out the "public access" crowd. There hasn't been public access in decades, why is it so important now? I thought we had a chance with Trump, but even he got fed up.
The city (New Rochelle) certainly can't do anything; there's no access and no money to build any causeway. As I recall they bought it back from Con Ed (to whom they had sold it for $2m?) for just a couple of dollars. That may have been a waste of two bucks.
Not sure if the county or city owns it now. At least its so overgrown that it was a nice backdrop for my wedding pictures 25 years ago. Looks the same for the current bridal photos.
Incidently, when I was a kid, we used to beach small boats on the island and walk around. The things I remember about the island were (a)that it was literally huge (much bigger than it looks from the shore), and (b) that there was pot growing EVERYWHERE during the summer. Apparently you wouldn't want to visit David's Island anymore. With all the rats, it is supposedly the Lime Disease capital of the world. BTW, nearby Hart Island has complete infrastructure in place (it formerly held missle silos) and is wasted as a potter's field for Riker's. Is there some reason we can't bury convicts somewhere upstate?