City outlines proposal for 2,200-acre park at
Fresh Kills
Planning agency releases
draft of master plan; public meeting scheduled in May
Staten Island Advance - Friday, April 07, 2006
Transformation of the former Fresh Kills landfill
into a sprawling park takes a step closer to reality next month,
when the city kicks off a year-long environmental review process.
After months of tweaking, the Department of City
Planning yesterday released a 61-page draft master plan that
outlines which recreational activities will go where in the
2,200-acre park.
"It's a commitment to the people of Staten Island
and a commitment to make this landfill into an incredible open
space," said Richard Barth, executive director of City Planning. "It
will be one of the flagship New York City parks."
A public meeting on the process will be held in late
May; the day and location have yet to be announced.
A final master plan is expected to be ready by
summer 2007, with construction of some amenities expected to begin
in early 2008 for opening to the public by 2009.
The draft master plan is "an elaboration" and a
refined version of the preliminary draft master plan, which was
released in June 2005, Barth said.
Individual sections of the park will be developed in
three phases: Travis-facing North Park, Arden Heights-facing South
Park and a never-landfilled area called The Confluence will be
developed first, by about 2015; East Park, which faces New
Springville and the Staten Island Mall, will be developed by 2025 in
phase 2, and West Park, which faces the Arthur Kill, will be
developed by 2035.
Activities ranging from mountain biking, horseback
riding and hiking to bird-watching, kayaking and ballgames are among
those proposed for Fresh Kills.
Borough President James Molinaro said he's "very
excited" about the release of the master plan, adding that it's a
final signal that Fresh Kills will never reopen as a landfill.
"We're putting the stake in the heart of the
vampire, which is the dump," he said.
The already-approved 28-acre Owl Hollow Soccer
Fields, which will be located on a never-landfilled section of the
dump in Arden Heights, is expected to open to the public by next
spring.
The Parks Department will spearhead construction of
the project, expected to cost $300 to $400 million, according to
preliminary estimates. The city already has set aside $120 million
for the first phase of the project, officials said.
"Fresh Kills Park will serve as the big new backyard
for Staten Islanders and be a destination for all New Yorkers,"
Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe said in a statement.
The draft master plan is available for public review
at the Island's three community boards, Wagner College, St. John's
University and the College of Staten Island, as well as in libraries
across the borough. It also will be on display at the Greenbelt
Nature Center, Egbertville, and City Planning's Staten Island office
at 130 Stuyvesant Place, St. George, the agency's Manhattan office,
and online at www.nyc.gov/freshkillspark.
By GLENN NYBACK
Reprinted here with permission
from the
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