The reclaimed land will be used for community engagement. Currently there are several park areas that exist on the site containing play fields. These include a soccer pitch, roller-hockey area, two baseball diamonds, tennis courts and several play areas. The newly created land will also contain new versions of these areas but will add to them. There will be additional play areas for children. These areas will be updated to include fully accessible play equipment for children with mobility and sensory disabilities. There will be
wheelchair accessible teeter-totters, swings and roundabouts. In addition to these, there will be sensory walls, where children can experience different textures and engage actively with the structures using sound walls, where objects can be pressed, spun, and pulled that create sounds. The grounds surrounding these areas will be a fake-grass type textures, comprised of rubber matting made from recycled tires. There will also be water forts created on the new newly constructed beaches where children can interact with water in a fun way.
There will be new changing facilities built on the beach that will be of the same construction of the type already built on Wolfes Pond Park on Staten Island. These structures will be built on stilts to protect them from storm surges and be constructed of reclaimed materials.
The changing facilities will consist of smaller rooms inside them that will be safe, gender-neutral spaces. Outside, the buildings will have both stairs and ramps to provide full accessibility. The beaches will also feature lightweight accessible pathways. These will consist of permanent paths leading down to the shore as well as removable paths that can be placed parallel to the shore based on need.
The newly created boardwalk will feature two new restaurant areas, built on stilts, to cater for people’s refreshment needs while using the area. These areas will be food hall style establishments each containing ten different food options. The halls will be owned by the local council but the food stores will be privately run and paying rent to the local council. This money will be used to maintain the food halls and the park in general. The boardwalk will also feature areas where food trucks will be able to rent spaces to sell food and drinks. Additionally, electric grills, benches and picnic tables will be installed along the park area to encourage people to enjoy the area in groups. The grills will be powered by solar paneling that will be installed on top of gazebos, providing both electricity and shaded areas.
All these measures will make the new land a desirable location for community gathering and designed to encourage fun public activities. These spaces will also be designed to withstand floods. However, there has to be expected additional water activity that goes beyond what will be the new normal, where even this new water barrier may prove insufficient. To this end, in front of the new boardwalk, there will be a four-foot-wide strip of concrete that can be raised to a height of ten feet to provide additional storm surge protection in emergency situations. This wall will be built to withstand the ravages of a category 5 hurricane.
Moving on to the Housing page, you will find more details about that part of the project.
To ensure that people are able to sustainably make use of the new developments and social park areas, there will be a new Light Rail system developed.