A REPORT BY THE FLOYD BENNETT FIELD BLUE RIBBON PANEL THE NEXT JEWEL IN NEW YORK’S URBAN PARK CROWN The Bronx New Yorkers Manhattan New Jersey are clamoring Queens for more opportunities Long Island to enjoy parks, and maintaining and expanding our quality of life Brooklyn requires us to answer that need. JAMAICA BAY - PlaNYC StatEN ISLAND FLOYD BENNETT FIELD OTHER PARKS AND OPEN SpacES SANDY HOOK GatEWay National RECREation AREA FLOYD BENNETT FIELD 1 DEAR SENATOR SCHUMER & CONGRESSMAN WEINER, It is our great pleasure, as members of the Floyd Bennett Field Blue Ribbon Panel, to submit our recommendations. Now is the time to create a premier We look to you for your leadership urban national park in New York as we begin to implement these City. This report provides the next recommendations, particularly steps to realize the tremendous with respect to determining a new potential of Floyd Bennett Field. management structure, creating Our recommendations will help a new park design, and identify- implement the goals of the Mayor’s ing public and private sources of PlaNYC, the President’s America’s capital funding and longer-term Great Outdoors Report, and the operations support for Floyd Ben- Comprehensive Restoration Plan nett Field. With champions for this for New York Harbor prepared by park in Congress, focused efforts the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers by the Department of Interior and and the Port Authority. the National Park Service, and the currently strong upwelling of This past year the Floyd Bennett local interest in this park, Gate- Field Blue Ribbon Panel met with way National Recreation Area can community groups, local busi- finally become a truly iconic urban nesses, numerous non-profits, national park, with Floyd Bennett agencies, and elected leaders to Field at its heart. Now is the time develop a better understanding of the site’s potential. We convened Thank you for your leadership and workgroups on park vision, educa- commitment to Gateway National to create a tion, restoration, infrastructure, and Recreation Area, and in particular management partnerships. This Floyd Bennett Field as the gem at premier urban comprehensive process led to the its center. We look forward to con- development of the recommenda- tinuing to work with you to achieve national park in tions for creating a vibrant urban our shared vision of an exemplary national park with broad public urban national park for the region support. and the country. New York City. APPENDICES NEXT STEPS PANEL RECOMMENDATIONS GATEWAY’S TIME IS NOW THE OPPORTUNITY EXECUTIVE SUMMARY LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL EXECUTIVE SUMMARY TIME IS NOW THE OPPORTUNITY GATEWAY’S RECOMMENDATIONS APPENDICES NEXT STEPS PANEL Floyd Bennett Field can connect millions of our region’s children to the natural world and our national parks. 2 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS I. Letter of Transmittal 2 II. Executive Summary 6 III. The Great Urban National Park Opportunity 8 For every IV. The Time for Gateway is Now 12 dollar spent VI. Panel Recommendations 18 VII. Next Steps 35 on a national VIII. Appendices 38 park, roughly four dollars are invested in the local economy. PANEL CO-CHAIRS PANEL MEMBERS Caswell Holloway Commissioner, New York City Marian S. Heiskell Diana Balmori Department of Environmental Chair, New 42nd Street, Inc. Founding Principal, Balmori Associates Protection Deborah Shanley Adrian Benepe Thomas Kiernan Dean, School of Education, Brooklyn Commissioner, New York City President, National Parks College / CUNY & Second Century Department of Parks & Recreation Conservation Association Commissioner Col. John R. Boulé II The Honorable Marty Markowitz Commander and District Engineer, US Brooklyn Borough President Army Corps of Engineers, New York The Floyd Bennett Field Blue Ribbon District The Honorable Helen Marshall Panel was staffed by Regional Plan Queens Borough President Association (RPA) and the National Marcia Bystryn Parks Conservation Association (NPCA). Executive Director, New York League of Neil Mulholland Conservation Voters President, National Parks Foundation Denis Galvin Jay Walder Second Century Commissioner & Chief Executive Officer, Former Deputy Director, National Park Metropolitan Transportation Authority Service Christopher Ward Joseph Martens Executive Director, The Port Authority Commissioner, New York State of New York & New Jersey Department of Environmental Conservation Robert D. Yaro President, Regional Plan Association 4 5 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY mericans love their parks, and could also support local infrastruc- NEXT STEPS APPENDICES RECOMMENDATIONS TIME IS NOW PANEL GATEWAY’S THE OPPORTUNITY EXECUTIVE SUMMARY LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL ANew York City’s more than ture needs, create jobs for the eight million residents, living and region’s residents, spur the local DESIGN ACCESS ECOLOGY EDUCATION PARTNERSHIP working in the densest city in the economy, and connect millions of United States, especially need their young people to the outdoors and parks. Today we have the unique the National Park System. Gate- opportunity to develop a new way is also uniquely positioned flagship national park for New York to facilitate community building by revitalizing Gateway National on a local, regional and national Recreation Area. This unpolished scale. Surrounded by established gem, with Floyd Bennett Field at its and newly developing immigrant heart, is ready to be brought alive communities representing dozens as the great urban national park it of countries, the park can play a was intended to be, elevated to vital role in introducing millions of shine as the next jewel in the emer- the country’s newest citizens to our ald crown of New York City’s great National Park System. Develop a coherent overall Improve transportation and Support ecological restoration: park system. design: access: In the past decade, numerous • Implement the Dead Horse As a premier urban national park in disparate efforts have been made • Create a new design for Floyd • Improve the arrival experience Bay Restoration Project as New York City, Floyd Bennett Field to articulate Gateway’s potential Bennett Field and its surround- and circulation within Floyd identified in the Army Corps could, and should, be a destination and define an exciting vision for its ings. Bennett Field. Jamaica Bay Feasibility Study. for urban outdoor recreation, eco- future. Recognizing that now is the • Make Floyd Bennett Field look logical restoration, aviation history, time for action, Senator Charles • Create additional public transit • Remove or bury concrete and feel like a national park. and place-based education for the Schumer and Congressman An- access to the park via bus and pads, remove defunct residents of southern Brooklyn and thony Weiner convened the Floyd • Embrace the site’s unstruc- ferry through pilot programs bulkheads and runways, and Queens and visitors from around Bennett Field Blue Ribbon Panel. tured character while restoring and marketing. remove numerous abandoned the world. If restored, supported, After much deliberation and public its open space. • Enhance the bicycling and buildings. and managed in new and collab- discussion, the Panel makes the • Preserve and herald the site’s pedestrian experience. • Rehabilitate and enhance the orative ways, Floyd Bennett Field following recommendations: aviation history. • Create a new ferry dock at grasslands. • Improve access to the water- Gateway Marina. • Restore the North 40 natural front and water. area. • Expand the recreational and cultural programming. Develop a comprehensive Establish a partnership structure education and interpretation to begin and facilitate change by program: 2016, honoring the National Park Service Centennial celebration: • Establish a year-round, state of the art education facility • Launch a third party entity for use by visitors, school to manage the site with joint Now is groups, academic institutions, involvement of New York City Floyd Bennett Field could, and nonprofits, and others. and the National Park Service. the time • Create an expanded camping • Structure the partnership to should, be a destination for urban experience from eco-lodges to allow for later inclusion of Fort for action. outdoor recreation, ecological RV access and campsites. Tilden and Riis Beach. restoration, aviation history, and place-based education. 6 7 THE GREAT URBAN NATIONAL PARK OPPORTUNITY loyd Bennett Field’s 1440 acres Floyd Bennett Field as the Pre- With over five miles of waterfront, Frepresent the next great park mier Great Urban National Park wetlands, grasslands, maritime for- opportunity within New York City, ests, and beaches, Floyd Bennett a rare chance to provide a huge America’s national parks tangibly Field has space for fishing, boat- recreational and historic park in memorialize our country, preserv- ing, camping and birding, outdoor the midst of the densest city in the ing not only open space, but recreational activities rare in the United States. The park is twice ecologically significant landscapes, surrounding urban landscape. the size of Central Park and is an historically important stories and untapped resource for the 200,000 even a sense of nationhood. A These assets will help meet the people who live within 3 miles of great urban national park serves needs of the city and the recreation the park, the 5 million residents these functions within the context and activity goals of national initia- of Brooklyn and Queens, and the of its surrounding urban fabric, tives such as the First Lady’s Let’s more than 8 million people of New infrastructure, and diversity. Move program, President Obama’s York City. The park should be a America’s Great Outdoors initia- destination park for the 21 million Floyd Bennett Field should be the tive, as well as Mayor Bloomberg’s residents of the tri-state area and Nation’s premier urban national PlaNYC. visitors from beyond. park. Its vast open space, 1440 acres, and World War II era struc- By 2025, 85% of Americans will live Congress created Gateway in 1972 tures provide a unique window into in metropolitan areas, and they will to serve as a publicly accessible New York City’s spectacular cultural need access to natural areas more national park.