NYC Department of Parks & Recreation Department of Parks NYC Trust Hudson River Park & Recreation Department of Parks NYC Daniel Avila, Progress on the waterfront and waterways. From left: the new Freshkills Park on Staten Island; Hudson River Park, Manhattan; Jamaica Bay. CHAPTER 2 Achievements on the New York City Waterfront The first comprehensive waterfront plan, The WRP is the City’s formal statement of Progress has also been made in the condi- released in 1992, proposed ways to reclaim the policies for balancing economic development, tions of the waterways themselves. As a result, shoreline for public access and productive uses. natural resources protection, and public access the Department of City Planning has added a The plan identified four functional categories on the shoreline. When a proposed project in fifth functional category, one devoted to the for waterfront activity: the Natural Waterfront, the coastal zone requires a local, state, or fed- Blue Network. The assessment of the current the Public Waterfront, the Working Waterfront, eral discretionary action, a determination of the state of the waterfront and waterways there- and the Redeveloping Waterfront. And it orga- project’s consistency with the policies and intent fore includes advances on five fronts citywide. nized the waterfront into 22 specific stretches, of the WRP must be made before the project In addition, communities across New York or “reaches,” and made recommendations for can move forward. City have drawn up plans and made concrete each one. The plan proposed many exciting In addition to the revisions to the WRP, improvements to their local stretches of wa- projects that have come to fruition in the 18 much has been accomplished in all four of the terfront, and these accomplishments are also years since the report was published, recom- functional categories identified in the 1992 plan, touched on here. mended regulatory changes that have since and achievements in these categories are de- been implemented, and provided a foundation tailed below. The New York Department of for waterfront planning and policies. State has awarded more than $55 million to the The 1992 plan laid the groundwork for the City to support the implementation of many of revision of the City’s Waterfront Revitalization the initiatives of the 1992 Comprehensive Wa- Program (WRP), adopted by the state in 2002. terfront Plan. 8 ACHIEVEMENTS SINCE 1992 THE NATURAL WATERFRONT New York has made great strides in protect- ing, restoring, and enhancing natural resources on the waterfront. Major citywide strategies to improve water quality and promote ecological health have ushered in a new era of environ- mentally conscious planning, policy, and action. Water Quality New York’s waterways are the cleanest they’ve been in a century (see Figures 1 and 2, page 10). This is primarily due to the City’s invest- ment of billions of dollars in water infrastruc- ture, wastewater treatment facilities, and the restoration of natural systems Since 2002, the Daniel Avila, NYC Department of Parks & Recreation Department of Parks NYC Daniel Avila, Bloomberg Administration has made a larger commitment to maintaining and improving the City’s water system than any administration in New York’s history. Approximately $6 billion has been allocated for upgrading the City’s 14 wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), and Department of Environmental Protection NYC Richmond Creek Pocket Wetland, part of the Staten Island Bluebelt. more than $1 billion has been invested in re- ducing combined sewer overflows (CSOs), the water quality. One stellar example of these and restoration of ecological systems. mix of excess storm water and untreated sew- natural solutions is the Staten Island Bluebelt, The Department of Parks & Recreation age that flows into the waterways as a result of a groundbreaking program that provides eco- and the Department of Environmental Protec- heavy rains or snow. CSO investments are pro- logically sound and cost-effective stormwater tion have spearheaded ecological restoration in jected to reduce CSO discharges by 8.5 billion management for nearly one-third of Staten Is- wetlands, in upland areas, and on the smaller gallons per year relative to the mid 1990s. Such land’s land area by preserving streams, ponds, islands of New York. City agencies—in coop- expenditures are designed to reduce pathogens and other wetland areas. Since the inception of eration with federal, state, and local non-gov- and protect human health. the Bluebelt program in the late 1980s, the City ernmental partners—have engaged in a range Other investments are intended to support has purchased 325 acres of wetland property. of projects to restore and create habitats over fish and wildlife. Excess nutrients from treated Other natural solutions are being implemented the last two decades. Between 1993 and 2010, wastewater can lead to algal blooms and low to enhance water quality in Jamaica Bay. The the City completed or planned for restoration oxygen levels that are limiting to animal spe- City has reclaimed more than 440 acres of en- projects on 69 acres of salt marsh and 18 acres cies. To meet this new challenge, the City has vironmentally sensitive land adjoining the Bay of freshwater marsh. For example, since 1998 committed $195 million to upgrade nitrogen- since 2002, and has piloted restoration projects Alley Pond Park and Alley Creek in Northwest control measures at several WWTPs. that include planting eel grass and reintroducing Queens have been the focus of extensive salt Such traditional “grey infrastructure” solu- oyster and mussel beds. marsh restoration, including CSO abatement, tions have been successful at achieving water covering approximately 13 acres. In Orchard quality goals, but the cost of these investments Ecological Restoration and Beach in the Bronx, more than six acres have has been significantly increasing and the margin- Preservation been restored through the installation of clean al contribution to the attainment of water qual- The 1992 Comprehensive Waterfront Plan des- fill and planting of native salt-marsh vegetation. ity objectives has been diminishing. To make ignated three Special Natural Waterfront Areas In Brooklyn, salt marsh restoration has taken additional improvements in water quality, the (SNWAs): Northwestern Staten Island, Jamaica place along the southern coast, including at City has adopted a more holistic, sustainable Bay, and the East River-Long Island Sound area. Four Sparrow Marsh and on Jamaica Bay. In approach. While it continues to make cost-ef- These SNWAs were selected for their large the Bronx, the Bronx River has been a focus fective improvements in grey infrastructure, the concentration of natural resources, including of efforts, with salt-marsh restoration in Con- City is creating a network of small-scale “green wetlands and other habitat areas, which are crete Plant Park, forest and upland restoration, infrastructure” installations and environmental mostly contiguous and buffered from adjacent exotic invasive species removal, and the instal- restoration projects. uses. Through the Waterfront Revitalization lation of in-stream habitat structures including a The City’s green infrastructure efforts build Program, the City prioritizes public and private pilot oyster reef. In Manhattan, the City worked on a rich history of natural solutions to improve actions in SNWAs that advance the protection with Randall’s Island Sports Foundation to re- VISION 2020: NEW YORK CITY COMPREHENSIVE WATERFRONT PLAN 9 1985 1992 2009 < 3.0 mg/L 3.0 - 3.9 THE BRONX THE BRONX THE BRONX 4.0 - 4.9 >= 5.0 QUEENS QUEENS QUEENS NEW MANHATTAN NEW MANHATTAN NEW MANHATTAN JERSEY JERSEY JERSEY BROOKLYN BROOKLYN BROOKLYN STATEN STATEN STATEN ISLAND ISLAND ISLAND ATLANTIC ATLANTIC ATLANTIC OCEAN OCEAN OCEAN Figure 1: Harborwide Water-Quality Improvements from 1985 to 2009: Summer average for dissolved oxygen in bottom waters, showing increasing oxygen levels. 1985 1992 2009 <100 Count/100mL 100 - 200 THE BRONX THE BRONX THE BRONX 201 - 2000 > 2000 QUEENS QUEENS QUEENS NEW MANHATTAN NEW MANHATTAN NEW MANHATTAN JERSEY JERSEY JERSEY BROOKLYN BROOKLYN BROOKLYN STATEN STATEN STATEN ISLAND ISLAND ISLAND ATLANTIC ATLANTIC ATLANTIC OCEAN OCEAN OCEAN NYC Department of Environmental Protection NYC Figure 2: Harborwide Water-Quality Improvements from 1985 to 2009: Summer geometric mean for fecal coliform in surface waters, showing declining bacteria levels. store salt marshes and freshwater wetlands on West in 2010. from federal, state, and city governments and Randall’s Island and Ward’s Island. In addition to engaging in restoration, the non-governmental organizations devoted to Jamaica Bay has been an active site for both City is preserving land in its natural state. For- improving the environmental quality of the Es- pilot and large-scale salt marsh restoration. The ever Wild Nature Preserves and Natural Areas tuary. primary technique for wetland restoration em- are City parklands that are protected from de- As part of the HEP partnership, the U.S. ployed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers velopment due to their precious habitat value. Army Corps of Engineers and the Port Author- here is the “dredge and spray” method, where Since the program’s inception in 2001, DPR ity of New York & New Jersey issued a draft of dredged sediment is layered onto fragmenting has designated 51 Forever Wild Preserves and the Hudson-Raritan Estuary Comprehensive Res- marsh, raising the elevation of the land and cre- 26 Natural Areas—many of them on or near toration Plan (CRP) in 2010. The plan identified ating a viable substrate so smooth cord grass the waterfront—including virtually all recorded critical habitat types and described the sources can be planted. The New York City Depart- nesting sites for Harbor Herons in the New and extent of contamination by dredged mate- ment of Parks & Recreation restored several York City area. rials, pathogens, excess nutrients, waterborne acres of salt marsh south of the village of Broad litter, and stormwater runoff. It also recognized Channel in the 1990s.