6 Vision Plan 2018 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

7 Executive Summary

Throughout the visioning In early 2015, the Newtown Creek 46). They range from the conspicuous Community Advisory Group (removal of contamination, stopping process, there were (CAG), met at LaGuardia Community ongoing pollution sources, and preventing College to develop a set of guiding future contamination) to the less overt few messages that principles and thereby establishing a (promotion and protection of industrial resounded with the framework for determining the future of uses, restoration of indigenous wildlife the Creek and its surroundings as the in the water and onshore, resilience in community as clearly EPA’s process for remediation moved light of climate change and its impacts on forward. The members of the CAG knew Creek communities, and public access as the need for better that if any long term plan for the cleanup and participation in the waterway). connections between the of the waterway were to be a success, They are a dynamic and proactive set the bar had to be set high in order to see of guidelines, designed to usher in a communities and the appropriate attention and investments. Newtown Creek for the 21st century; waterways. They knew that if the community robust, resilient, and as teaming with life surrounding the Creek was to benefit from as the City that surrounds it. the coming remediation they had to be With City plans for and involved as proactive participants in the stormwater pollution investments taking planning of its future restoration. shape through DEP’s Long Term Control From that initial meeting, 12 Guiding Plan (LTCP), legacy contamination clean- Principles were outlined (see page up through the EPA’s Superfund process

Newtown Creek at Whale Creek

8 NEWTOWN CREEK Vision Plan 2018 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY / The Vision

underway, and redevelopment of all kinds exploding in communities surrounding the waterfront, Newtown Creek needs its own comprehensive long-term plan, one that pulls all of these elements together and sees the waterway in its future, cohesive state.

The CAG’s principles were the first concrete steps in creating a roadmap for agencies at the helm of the Creek’s remediation. This Vision Plan takes those principles and builds off of them; visualizing a new way for the Creek to function in the coming century. To create such a roadmap, Riverkeeper and the Newtown Creek Alliance, alongside A working waterfront A natural waterfront Creek stakeholders in the and communities, launched the vision community, have yet to launch – given infrastructure alike. process to capture decades of community the pollution and access barriers extant The industrial sector around Newtown conversations in one report. in this watershed. The Vision Plan is Creek inadvertently has removed many also a record of the pollution, access, With all of the pollution presently of these neighborhoods from their and investment barriers facing Newtown discharging into these waterways each waterway. Crucial to past and present Creek, and a plan for how to overcome year, and uncertainty around access and regional economies, these industrial those barriers, together. the way in which Superfund remediation sites are both the cause of many of the and restoration will take place, there THE CREEK Creek’s worst problems and hold the keys is, and always has been, a community Determining a path forward for the to many of the it’s most valuable clean of people fighting for this community Newtown Creek requires efforts and water innovations. However and often resource and a place to play, learn, fish, innovation through large tracts of both surprisingly, recreational activities abound and paddle. We hope that this report Queens and Brooklyn, it’s clear that throughout the Creek, despite toxic captured the concepts of the local change in the waterway is driven by contamination, sewage and stormwater community – residents, businesses, change in the watershed. The Creek pollution, and inaccessible waterfronts. visitors, and visionaries alike. both connects and divides a number Street-end access points, boat clubs, and environmental education hubs have We see Newtown Creek not as an of communities in Queens (Long arisen in several of the quiet corners unapproachable problem, or as forgotten Island City, Sunnyside, Maspeth, and and protected areas of the Creek. With a waterway; rather, we see waterways Ridgewood) and Brooklyn (Greenpoint, valuable and significant maritime uses, teeming with aquatic life, active East Williamsburg and Bushwick). These historically low levels of pollution, new recreational communities, clean water neighborhoods are home to hundreds commercial investments, and growing stewards, and committed educators. We of thousands of New Yorkers; a host of local neighborhoods, Newtown Creek see a waterway with great potential. cultures, economies, and interests. Many of these areas are experiencing rapid plays a unique and crucial role in the This Vision Plan is a community- commercial and exponential residential economic, social, and urban environment driven catalog of these efforts already expansion and growth, exerting extreme of Queens, Brooklyn - all at the underway, as well as some new ideas pressures on existing industry and (geographic) center of City. for investments and innovations we, the

9 STATE OF THE CREEK A singularly complex and dynamic urban ecosystem, Newtown Creek is deeply polluted and has suffered more than a century of degradation. The last two decades however, remarkable strides have been made to reverse this legacy. The ebbs and flows of use and abuse, attention, and care from the regulatory and management agencies, universities, industries, and local advocacy efforts, continue to shape the Creek systems we work and live with today and will define the bounds of what is possible for the future. These complex systems are not always easy to define, some elements of them are very clear; legacy pollution, Surface contamination in the Creek ongoing contamination, rebounding ecosystems, a transitioning industrial wetlands that do exist (or have been built) impermeable surfaces that lead from core, exploding adjacent commercial and in the Creek reveal the potential for the to the water's’ edge to several blocks residential development, a strong and waterway to realize the many co-benefits upland. Multiple truck routes, highways, growing group of community advocates of salt marsh restoration, such as water and significant bridges cross the Creek, and stewards. How these systems filtration by native mussels and oysters the Pulaski, recently modified for better intertwine to form a healthy future is what and storm surge protection due to energy bike and pedestrian use, the newly-rebuilt this planning document envisions. absorbing landscapes. Kosciuszko, the more than a century old and a host of Ecologically, the naturalized riprap, hard The Creek, home to water-dependent streets along and around the shoreline bulkheads and soft edges, floating docks industries – barges brining materials in are all highly trafficked industrial and and fledgling salt marsh wetlands, street and carrying the City’s wastes out – must commuter corridors. Pressing up against ends and sewer outfalls of the Creek are figure prominently in this Vision. These this industrial activity the region is being all a part of the larger system that industries are the hidden life's blood to reshaped by dense new developments, is the . Tidally driven and the City; providing well paid entry level new infrastructure, and new zoning plans. inundated by runoff with every rainfall, blue collar jobs, critical infrastructure, these waterways have the potential to and economic stability to many of the Layered over these ecological, social, be part of a very productive regional surrounding communities. The waterway and economic considerations is the ecosystem. Today, however, much of the itself is designated as a Significant catastrophic stress caused by ongoing historic wetlands, marshes, seagrasses Maritime and Industrial Area (SMIA); sewage and stormwater pollution. The and soft edges have been transformed, industries along the Creek move over a vast majority of the land that drains hardened with bulkheads, functionally million tons of freight by barge every year. to this waterway – the ~6,500 acre removed from the rest of the ecosystem The Creek’s waterfront is nearly entirely Newtown Creek sewershed – is served – in short, the Creek has been turned industrial - the Mouth of the Creek being by a system. In this from a natural wetland to a man made the only exception. antiquated waste water system (where waterfront, losing the benefits of habitat storm drains in the streets are connected Expansive pre war rooftops, enormous rich soft edges and water infiltrating soils. underground with the sewer pipes parking lots, miles of pavement, all The natural and constructed floating coming from homes and businesses),

10 NEWTOWN CREEK Vision Plan 2018 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY / The Vision

precipitation events as common as appear hopelessly marred by humanities site, relief and environmental justice is in 1/10th of an inch can exceed the sewers’ activities. sight. capacity, overflow within the system, and Industry, particularly oil and other Newtown Creek was listed on the National discharge directly into the Creek. Up to refineries and metal processing facilities, Priorities list in 2010, triggering the EPA 1.2 billion gallons of discharge (consisting have left a legacy of contamination Superfund process. From 2011 to 2018 of raw sewage, pharmaceuticals, oils, throughout the Creek and its watershed. an extensive Remedial Investigation (RI) debris, litter, and many more pollutants) These past problems continue to have has been underway to assess the state can enter Newtown Creek every year – deleterious impacts on the Creek of contamination and risks to ecology enough to fill the Empire State Building and surrounding communities. The and human health. Simultaneously, the over three times with pollution. A groundwater is unusable, cut off from EPA designated the initial six Potentially devastating reality for marine life, workers use in the mid 1900s, underground Responsible Parties (PRPs) responsible and nearby residents that are expected to plumes of oil seep into the waterway and for contamination in Newtown Creek. At live alongside this actuality. other toxic plumes threaten the health of the release of this Visioning Plan, with TOXICITY AND A VISION FOR CLEAN WATER residential communities above, all causing the RI process close to complete and a Contamination, its origins and lasting public anxiety around health problems number of additional PRPs identified, effects vary throughout the Creek; from throughout the area. Years of advocacy the agency is poised to begin developing the crude oil pollution at the ExxonMobil by citizen groups, non-profits (including a Feasibility Study (FS), details of the Greenpoint site – where millions of Riverkeeper and Newtown Creek Alliance) Creek’s ultimate cleanup, cost and gallons of oil spilled over generations have and elected officials have led to a associated timeline. Any such plan would pooled into underground oil reservoirs, thorough examinations of the extent of the be announced in a Proposed Remedial to PCBs, PAHs, heavy metals, and an decades and decades of pollution. These Action Plan (PRAP), open to public alphabet soup of hazardous materials efforts triggered a host of small-scale comment and subsequently memorialized scar that the landscape and ruin the enforcement actions, large-scale oil spill in a final Record of Decision (ROD). waters. This coupled with the ongoing remediation work, and, eventually, the Remediation of the waterway and its CSOs, the beleaguered waters often listing of Newtown Creek as a Superfund sediments will follow in the years to come.

This Superfund process, and specifically the CAG’s role in the ultimate remediation plan, is a crucial part of this report, as the clean-up will ultimately create the baseline Creek conditions on which many of the projects and solutions identified in this plan rely. Further, potential Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) efforts and community restoration, corollary to the EPA’s remediation work – for which the PRPs will also bear the costs – will be the venue for many of the environmental, education, and access based proposals in this report.

Despite all the contamination, stormwater discharges, and sewage pollution, it is important to recognize that water quality Maspeth Avenue Plank Road Street End in Newtown Creek is better today than it

11 has been in the past century. Much of for recreation and education. With the The Creek’s crucial core navigable this improvement is due to upgrades that projects and priorities set forth in this channels remain and are fortified, have already taken place to the Newtown Vision Plan, Newtown Creek can again ensuring that the industrial economy can Creek Waste Water Treatment Plant. This be a vast resource that is accessible, thrive. Green roofs blanket warehouses, recognizable landmark is capable of fishable, swimmable, and enjoyable. climate resilience retrofits abound, and handling up to 700 million gallons of raw One that provides the unique ecosystem maritime access can be found in all sewage daily, a staggering number and a services that healthy tidal salt marshes reaches. An urban ecosystem like this relief to the waterway. Plans for the future, once provided to much of New York embraces the multiple uses of the Creek through the Long Term Control Plan, call Harbor. and provides opportunities and access for for further capture of sewage during wet area community members to enjoy, learn In this Vision Plan for the future, weather events. Even more innovation from, sustainably use, and live alongside. shorelines are no longer crumbling for water quality improvement is needed, unusable as a working waterfront, nor including some of the idea outlined in this are they only hard bulkheaded walls, document. OUR APPROACH unsuitable for life. Instead, the waterfront A clean water vision for Newtown Creek Because of improvements made to- edge is the connective tissue of the formed over time, through a participatory date, the Creek is responding; wildlife Creek’s urban ecosystem, protecting process shaped by the many voices is returning and more and more people upland areas from flooding and providing of Newtown Creek advocates and are utilizing the waterway as a resource habitat for aquatic plants and animals. stakeholders. The Newtown Creek CAG,

June 3, 2017 Public Visioning Session

12 NEWTOWN CREEK Vision Plan 2018 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY / The Vision

was the spark that started this Vision Plan and provided the Guiding Principles that grounded the Vision Plan process. From there, Riverkeeper and the Newtown Creek Alliance developed a categorization method utilizing Four Rs; Remediation, Restoration, Resilience, and Recreation, to frame the approach to this Plan (see page 24). The goal was to provide a roadmap for remediating historic pollution and degradation, restoring and revitalizing lost and damaged ecosystems, providing for safe and accessible opportunities for recreation and education; on the waterfront, between communities, and on the water, and ensuring climate and economic resilience of the industries, businesses, communities, and September 15, 2017 Public Mixer ecosystems around the Creek. Williamsburg High School for Architecture – to be reshaped as needed, as time goes With this framework in mind, the and Design, Smiling Hogshead Ranch, on, by more public input, as often is the generation of ideas and input from and so many more stakeholders from reality in scenarios such as these. This stakeholders for physical projects along areas businesses, community boards, Vision is a tool developed by the Creek the waterfront and throughout the Creek IBZs, elected officials, city agencies, were community, for the community, to be watershed was the primary vision process all among the hundreds that came to the used by the community. goal. Dividing the Creek into seven various meetings throughout the planning different reaches allowed us to work process. CREEK WIDE SOLUTIONS with city agencies, community members Newtown Creek is too complex to be and those with vested interests in the The uniquely skilled and adept team at analyzed as one waterfront. In order waterway on specific, detailed proposals Perkins + Will brought these ideas to to more effectively develop actionable along the shores of the Creek. Community life. These designers offered invaluable ideas from the community, and ensure members proposed, contributed to, and urban design and planning expertise, they we captured their specific concerns, this developed the ideas presented here – at were a steady hand that made the Vision Plan divides Newtown Creek into seven CAG meetings, at our kick-off meeting, a Plan truly a visual exercise. For each separate “reaches” (a nautical term visioning session, at networking events, Reach, and for the system as a whole, for segments of a waterway), there is a and at a host of smaller stakeholder the goal was to capture the present state seperate section that discusses Creek sessions and brainstorming meetings. and future potential of the Creek. All the Wide ideas and project opportunities These meetings and workshops brought while integrating the needs, desires, and for improvement. Each reach has an together community leaders, residents, concerns of the people and businesses individual story, and connects in a unique and experts from organizations and that are integral achieving the Visions way to the surrounding communities. agencies around the City. LaGuardia presented here. Taken all together, each reach is part of Community College, Waterfront Alliance, a whole, and in this case, the whole is While this document represents a version SWIM Coalition, Billion Oyster Project, greater than the sum of its parts. Evergreen, LIC Roots, North Brooklyn of the outcome of these processes, the Boat Club, Harbor Lab, students from ideas herein are designed to be malleable

13 SUNNYSIDE GARDENS

LONG ISLAND CITY SUNNYSIDE for too long been kept apart from the DUTCH KILLS community around it. Every year, millions of gallons of Calvary Cemetery

First Calvary Cemetery Mt. Zion Cemetery combined sewer pollution pour into Dutch

r

e

v i

Long Island Expressway R

t Kills, abandoned deteriorating barges s a E WHALE CREEK MILE TWO lie unattended, legacy contamination MOUTH OF CREEK MASPETH is found throughout the surface and subsurface sediments of the tributary. GREENPOINT Low bridges and sediment build-up

Msgr. McGolrick MASPETH CREEKPark & TURNING BASIN render the waterway inaccessible by even EAST BRANCH the smallest boats. Crumbing bulkheads,

McCarren Park Brooklyn-Queens Expressway neglected streetscapes, and overgrown edges prevent people from seeing or

Linden Hill ENGLISH KILLS Methodist Cemetery enjoying the waterway. At Visioning events, community members envisioned BUSHWICK the tributary with nearby green park space, green roofed buildings, a scenic The Vision Plan's 7 Reaches walking loop around the Creek, and bridge designs that support in water salt THE REACHES With intelligent and inclusive planning, marsh restoration; in sum, a waterbody The Mouth of the Creek is home to the waters and waterfronts of Whale that connects one of the fastest-growing the greatest area of new development Creek can be designed in a way that communities in the City to a restored anywhere along the Creek’s shore, ensures industry coexists with recreation, wetland waterfront park. both in Brooklyn and in Queens, it is access doesn’t impede maritime traffic, Midway into the Creek, Mile Two is a also the region most prone to flooding. and bulkheads support jobs as well long narrow channel of water. This is Investments in edge design improvements as ecosystems. A reimagining of the the epicenter of one of the Creek’s on both sides of the waterway will help Department of Sanitation’s derelict waste largest remediation projects: a massive, with neighborhood resilience while also transfer facility into a learning laboratory 17-30 million gallon plume of oil that shoring up waterfront businesses into the and light industrial hub brings water lies underground below businesses and future. Proposals for a small marina and access to the heart of the reach, while homes in Greenpoint. On the opposite a redesigned street end shoreline allow wetland creation at North Henry Street shore, in Queens, the Blissville Seep for increased accessibility to the water for provides an anchor and a refuge for the still leaks oil into the water. Trucks recreational use. ecosystem and a safe space for recreation and heavy construction vehicles out of shipping lanes. Whale Creek is one of the most active continue to dominate the surrounding maritime use industrial areas of the The westernmost (and arguably most streets. Shorelines, deteriorated and Creek, due to the regular barge traffic stagnant) tributary of Newtown Creek, crumbling, provide little storm surge servicing the Newtown Creek Wastewater Dutch Kills cuts almost due north protection for the upland industries. Treatment Facility and recycling from the Newtown Creek Wastewater Because this reach is industry-heavy, and operations nearby. Surrounding the Treatment Plant into , there is little to no space for adaptation Wastewater Treatment Facility, the City’s Queens. Intimately nestled among tens planning within the Creek itself in this “Nature Walk” already provides direct of thousands of students at half a dozen narrow stretch, industrial buildings must access to the water and hosts rare for different schools, new residential towers, play a large role in building climate the area native plants and interpretive and rapidly growing commercial and resilience and ecological restoration. artwork. industrial corridors, this tributary has

14 NEWTOWN CREEK Vision Plan 2018 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY / The Vision

Green infrastructure, particularly Community members imagined Maspeth communities. Neighboring DEP’s new green roofs and adapted shorelines Creek and the Turning Basin managed aeration facility, there is a property and bulkheads offer opportunities. together as one ecological system, with fallen into disuse, originally promised for Though space in Mile Two is limited, Maspeth Creek made permanently non- community purposes, those promises are community members’ visions for the navigable, shoreline edges revitalized, as neglected as the property. reach, take full advantage of the coming lookouts and walkways built out as The industrial legacy that channelized Parks, and street-end nature walks of their own. Restoration East Branch dramatically limited tidal parks for critical open space, green would firmly anchor the environmental flow leading to stagnant waters, heavy infrastructure, and water access. revitalization of the Newtown Creek as a CSO discharges make the water severely whole, returning this natural community Before the Creek was industrialized, impaired. Despite the odds, community asset to the people, fish, and waterfowl. the Turning Basin sat at the confluence members see a different future for East of a number of tributaries and shallow The East Branch tributary was once Branch. The shallow waters offer up marshes. Over time, this open basin was the northeastern edge of the vast an amazing opportunity for restoration widened and deepened – and the islands Newtown Creek salt marsh, connecting with salt marsh and sea grassesand the at its center, made up largely of oysters to fresh water and feeding into streams. reintroduction of oysters, both create and mussels, was either dredged and Traversing East Branch today, the Grand new marine wildlife habitat. With a little removed or filled in to make more usable Street Bridge connects the Boroughs of help, this inlet can become an ecological land – to create an area large enough for Brooklyn and Queens. The old bridge, pocket of marshland driving clean water barges and the large boats of the early unsafe for pedestrians and bikes, could throughout the system. 20th century to turn around in and head be part of larger green street corridor Farthest from the mouth of the Creek back out of the Creek. providing access to the water and habitat and the , English Kills runs for oysters and other marine wildlife. Shallow, silty, and home to one of the right up to the doorstep of the close-knit Upland, parking lots drain directly into largest combined sewer outfalls in the Bushwick community. This head end of the waterway, contributing to pollution Creek, Maspeth Creek presents one of the Creek is only fed by stormwater and and inhibiting area resilience. These lots the best local opportunities for ecosystem sewage pollution, discharges from one can be transformed with protective berms restoration. Decades of sedimentation of the largest combined sewer outfalls in and green infrastructure, redesigned to a have made Maspeth Creek impassable the City; hardly the type of waterway this capture stormwater and build resilience by boats. With large-scale industrial proud community deserves. for the industrial corridor and surrounding operations encircling the tributary (but largely parking lots abutting the waterway itself), and a trash boom stretching across the mouth of Maspeth Creek, the waterway has been kept a world apart from human use for half a century. Maspeth Creek remains, nonetheless, coated in contamination and saturated with sewage, but the inaccessibility of Maspeth Creek provide sanctuary for wildlife. Cormorants, herons, menhaden, and more have been observed fishing, foraging, and schooling around the trash boom and in the open waters of the Basin. Proposed New Head of Creek Park, page 118

15 The most significant feature of English Kills isn’t necessarily the combined sewer that feeds it, but the series of 90-degree hairpin turns. These unnatural, jagged turns impede tidal flow - and prevents water circulation; thus, the very structure of English Kills is its greatest weakness. Polluted sediment, stagnant waters, and toxic contamination remain stuck in this tributary, waiting for investments in remediation,and perhaps a softening of its REMEDIATION OPPORTUNITIES man made corners. 1. Contaminated sediments 2. Pollution point sources (CSOs) The vibrant and rapidly-expanding 3. Parking lots and green roofs/ residential, commercial and mixed use stormwater capture areas have no way to access or explore the waterway running behind their buildings – a barrier that can, and should, change given the lack of open space available in this part of Brooklyn. As one of the most low-lying, densely-developed, RESTORATION OPPORTUNITIES and highly contaminated stretches of the 1. New wetlands Creek, community members envisioned 2. Oyster / pockets for parks, shallows ideal for salt 3. Terraced bulkheads, Smart edge design marsh restoration, shorelines poised for innovative reconstruction, rooftops ready to be greened, and city streets and sidewalks redesigned for efficient stormwater capture and control, English Kills is a perfect living laboratory for urban RECREATION OPPORTUNITIES clean water innovation. 1. Access points 2. Multiple-use areas CREEK-WIDE 3. Over-water boardwalks Breaking Newtown Creek into seven separate reaches enabled us to focus on individual projects and site- specific localized improvements. A comprehensive approach, however, enables understanding of complex issues that exist across multiple reaches, boroughs and neighborhoods. A full RESILIENCE OPPORTUNITIES Creek analysis moves beyond the political 1. Soft edges 2. Berms/flood protection and geographic siloed configurations 3. Better bridges of the watershed that limit and isolate issues, that are complex and multi- layered. Creek-Wide 4R's

16 NEWTOWN CREEK Vision Plan 2018 As we compiled what we viewed as business decision-making processes as reality – let alone a vision – significantly Creek-wide solutions, two overarching well as long-term Superfund plans. changing how almost every inch of the policy recommendations emerged as key Creek is shaped and functions. Simply Finally, hard looks at navigability, where factors in the ultimate remediation and put, the answer is to work incrementally. should we improve and advocate for restoration of this waterway: the need for By working the Creek at small scales, better barge use and where should there interagency collaborative planning and reach by reach, the clean water future be areas delisted as navigable waterways the value of multiple uses. These pillars can be built. largely before many projects in this Vision led to a number of system-wide priority can be made feasible. The framework for taking those steps, projects. presented here as priority projects and Developing solutions for stormwater THE ROAD AHEAD system solutions, will require significant capture on bridges and overpasses, area- The majority of this report focuses on investment of time and creativity by wide green infrastructure, and designing physical improvements to Newtown the community, agencies, industries, safer streets and corridors for cyclists, Creek, the water, its shorelines, and developers, planners, and elected officials pedestrians, and public transportation adjacent upland areas. While it would be – shaping together what Newtown Creek will require the time and attention of a easy to say that the next step here is to will look like for years to come. number of agencies. break ground on these improvements, this contaminated, industrial, sewage- With two boroughs, three Community Shoreline innovation – for multiple-use burdened waterway has never had Board districts, four City Council districts resilience and restoration benefits – will solutions that simple. Thus, since our and seven different neighborhoods need to be elicited from a number of first meeting with the public, the biggest bordering Newtown Creek, better academic and agencies partners and will question we’ve been asked is how we integrated engagement throughout these need to be folded into both small-scale could make any vision for the Creek a separate communities is a vital next step.

17 Only by having an informed and engaged Perhaps most significantly, new funding in the communities that are living and community, working collaboratively sources must be cultivated for essential working in the Creek’s watershed today, toward the same goals, will we collectively projects affecting the Creek. Waterfront with all of these, strong proactive and achieve the priorities set forth in this industries cannot take it upon themselves progressive leadership is key. Vision Plan. While many of the city, to install the best-choice bulkheads, or Newtown Creek Alliance and Riverkeeper, state, and federal elected officials that open up public access corridors. Private as advocates for the Creek and its represent Newtown Creek are supportive owners, unfortunately, do not possess the surrounding communities, recognize of the cleanup efforts, there is a glaring wherewithal nor the funding for radical the challenges inherent in carrying out lack of recognized leadership by any renovations required to make necessary this Vision over the long term. Our plan one office. Achieving this Vision requires improvements. New infrastructure will be is to remain present and active, and an all-hands-on-deck objective. These needed, heavy lifting will be essential. So will be here with the Creek and with entities, moreover, must coordinate and will small signs and subtle innovations, the community as final decisions are collaborate to ensure that solutions aren’t the devil is in the details. Pilot projects for developed at the city, state, and federal delayed – let alone missed – due to this new wetland designs are already in the levels; striving to ensure that this Vision lack of leadership. Strategic deployment works for the Creek, but we’ll also need Plan, and the priorities included herein, of city planners, engineers, community to survey ecosystem trends and apply are championed and ultimately met. liaisons and budget officers, architects new technologies. These investments and lawyers from the city, state, and demand a careful assessment of Natural federal agencies working on Newtown Resource Damage Assessment funding Creek will be the key to efficient and opportunities, innovation in Superfund effective implementation of this Vision. remedial design, and more investment

18 NEWTOWN CREEK Vision Plan 2018 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY / The Vision

85 Community- Focused Projects in 7 Reaches

MOUTH OF THE CREEK page 64 MASPETH CREEK & TURNING BASIN page 96 1. Long Island City Shoreline Restoration 1. Connecting Cooper Park to the Water 2. Public Space Improvements 2. Maspeth Avenue Overlook 3. Pulaski Bridge Marina 3. Floating Wetlands 4. North Brooklyn Community Boathouse 4. 49th Street Overlook 5. Connecting Vernon to Vernon 5. 49th Street Public Space 6. Greenpoint Bulkhead 6. Green Roof and Mural on Shipping Facility 7. Vernon Boulevard Street-End Redesign 7. Copper Plant Walkway 8. Hunter's Point Promenade 8. National Grid Bulkhead Redesign 9. Oyster Reef Reintroduction: Encircling LaGuardia Airport 9. Round the Corner at Maspeth Avenue 10. Plank Road Expansion 11. Mussel Island WHALE CREEK page 72 12. Maspeth Marsh: New Wetland Creation 1. Nature Walk Enhancements 13. National Grid Remediation and Redevelopment 2. Kingsland Avenue Connection 3. Improved Piers and Industrial Access EAST BRANCH page 104 4. Kingsland Wildflowers Expansion 5. Bulkhead Salt Marshes 1. Border of the Boroughs 6. Clean Soil Bank and Community Compost Facility 2. Green Roofs on Older Industrial Buildings 7. Gateway to Greenpoint 3. Solar Installations on Newer Industrial Buildings 8. Enclosures for Open Use Facilities 4. Bridge Redesign: Oyster and Mussel Reefs 9. Shoreline Restoration at Industrial Lots 5. Soft Shoreline Edges 10. Shoreline Restoration at North Henry Street Public Basin 6. Wetland Restoration 11. Marine Transfer Station Redesign 7. Bridge Reconstruction: Public Access and Ecosystem Function 12. Better Barge Traffic Flow for Industrial Uses 8. 47th Street Lot 9. Western Beef Berm

page 80 DUTCH KILLS ENGLISH KILLS page 112 1. Removal of Abandoned Barges 1. Water Access 2. Ranch on Rails 2. Metropolitan Avenue Overlook 3. Renovation of House 3. Remediate Active Seepage Sites 4. Shoreline Wetland Restoration 4. Colossal Shoreline Redesign 5. Improved Bridge Designs 5. Pocket Marshes 6. Green Parking Garage for LaGuardia Community College 6. New Head of Creek Park 7. Bernie's Walk 7. New Basin Boardwalk 8. 29th Street Park 9. Montauk Cutoff Extension 10. Dutch Kills Loop CREEK-WIDE PROJECTS page 122 1. Parking Lot Redesign MILE TWO page 88 2. Reducing Marine Debris 3. Enforced No Wake Zone 1. Kosciuszko Bridge Waterfront Park 4. Reverse Recent Encroachment onto Public Property 2. Oyster Gardens 5. Sea Level Rise Adaptation 3. Gardner Avenue Improvements 6. Green Roofs on Industrial Buildings 4. Review Avenue Bike Path 7. Green Infrastructure throughout Watershed 5. Penny Bridge Park 8. Renewable Energy Deployment 6. Living Bulkheads 9. Wayfinding and a New Network of Educational Signage 7. Remediated Blissville Seep 10. Improved Pedestrian and Bicycle Infrastructure 8. Apollo Street Sponge Park 11. Stormwater Capture from Bridges and Overpasses 9. Shoreline Stabilization and Restoration 12. Historic Stream and Groundwater Investigation 10. Redesign of Green Asphalt Edge 13. Funding for Shoreline Redesign and Construction 11. 400 Kingsland Avenue 14. Strategic Delisting of Navigational Areas

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