Phase 1 Delayed

From the "Queens Chronicle":

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Reservoir rehab deadline extended

by Michael Gannon, Associate Editor
Thursday, December 1, 2011 12:00 pm

Completion of the first phase of construction at the Ridgewood Reservoir is being pushed back to next summer based on safety hazards uncovered by the city’s Parks Department in recent months.

“After debris was removed from the site, several unfavorable conditions were uncovered, including structurally unstable paths and walls that will require extensive technical revision,” said a spokesman for the Parks Department in an e-mail on Wednesday.

“As always, safety is of paramount concern, and correcting these conditions will require that we postpone laying asphalt replacement until next spring,” the e-mail continued.

The changes mean completion of phase one, which included a resurfaced trail, new lights and fencing, will be pushed back slightly from its original spring 2012 date.

Many residents of Ridgewood and surrounding areas want to see the site of the former water basins kept as they are and allowed to return undisturbed to their natural state.

The aim would be to establish a nature preserve open to hikers, nature lovers and educational groups.

Others are calling for at least part of the site to be converted to public athletic fields.

The future of the site could depend largely on the results of hydrological and soil tests being conducted by the city.

Gary Giordano, district manager of Community Board 5, told the board’s Parks Committee Monday that those test results were scheduled to be turned over to the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation as of Nov. 30.

Wednesday’s e-mail said the hydrology report is being reviewed by city personnel, and will be shared with the state as soon as it is completed, and that the report must be completely analyzed before determining specifics for phase two.

Approximately $3 million is available in the city’s FY 2013 budget for a second phase.

The testing might or might not support the claims of those who want the state to declare the site a wetland. Such a designation would make it far more difficult to construct ballfields.

The reservoir sits in Highland Park on the border with Brooklyn. It was built as a reservoir in 1858 and continued to serve Brooklyn until 1959, when basins one and three were drained.

Basin 2 served as a backup supply for Brooklyn from 1960 to 1989, and was decommissioned in 1990. It was transferred to the Parks Department in 2004 with the intention of turning it into a public park.

The major point of contention between the city and CB 5 is the planed installation of a four-foot fence around the reservoir as opposed to the six-foot one CB 5 wanted.

“Four feet won’t protect people or the reservoir,” said Steven Fiedler, chairman of the Parks Committee. “But we’ve already lost that fight.”

In other business at the meeting, the Parks Department announced a $750,000 initiative to renovate and expand the bocce courts at Juniper Valley Park.

Jane Couch, a department landscape architect, told the committee that they will add metal-framed, shading canopies at the ends of both existing courts. Both existing courts may receive minor upgrades or repairs as deemed necessary during construction, and a third court will be constructed on the site of an existing shuffleboard court.

Andrew Penzi of the Parks Department said construction could start by next fall and would take about one year to finish.

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I don't think that the Department of Parks and Recreation can be trusted to carry out an unbiased hydrology report.

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Four Sparrow Marsh Project

Looks like this travesty has been cancelled ... for now:

Forest City Ratner project in Mill Basin, touched by corruption indictment, "has been withdrawn;" indicted developer had role in City Point, whose lead developer didn't pay bribes but made gifts to Markowitz charities

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The following just appeared in the publication "International Business Times":

Thursday, October 27, 2011 4:53 PM EDT
Ridgewood Reservoir Changes Met With Approval, Degree of Skepticism

By Cristina Merrill

Preservationists call the Ridgewood Reservoir an environmental gem in New York City.

However, development plans to spruce up the over 50-acre site have reservoir advocates concerned that planned changes might transform the lush wilderness into an unrecognizable landscape.

Located in Highland Park, which covers land in the Queens neighborhood of Ridgewood and the Brooklyn neighborhood of Cypress Hills, the Ridgewood Reservoir is one of a handful of reservoirs remaining in New York City. Other reservoirs in the city are the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir in Manhattan's Central Park, the Jerome Park Reservoir in the Bronx, and the Silver Lake reservoir in Staten Island.

"You feel like you're not in New York City," said Gary Comorau, president of the Highland Park Ridgewood Reservoir Alliance, an advocacy group that promotes the reservoir.

The area has been left alone in recent years, but that changed in April when the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation started developing the land. The first phase of the project will cost taxpayers $7.6 million and is expected to be completed in the spring of 2012, according to department spokeswoman Patricia Bertuccio and the department Web site.

The initial changes are meant to spruce up the area and make it more accessible to the public. This includes fixing surrounding pathways and installing a ramp.

"Invasive species that are compromising the infrastructure and threatening the delicate biodiversity of the Reservoir basins will be removed," Bertuccio wrote in an email.

While these changes are welcome, others have been met with criticism.

One point of contention is a new perimeter four-foot tall steel bar fence, shorter than the current chain link fence. Some residents believe the new fence will not be enough to protect the area.

"There have been times in the past where people have jumped the fence and were up to no good or cut the fence and were up to no good," Queens Community Board 5 Parks Committee chairperson Gary Giordano told IB Times. "I mean, I'm over 50 and I could do it no problem," he said of going over the new fence. "You make an investment of that size and you want to protect it."

Comorau echoed this sentiment, noting that two of the three basins have already made for popular paintball locations.

"That's very destructive to the environment," he said.

The Future

Reservoir advocates expressed concern about what will happen after the first phase. The next phase of the project remains in the design stage, according to Bertuccio, as the Parks department is working with the state Department of Environmental Conservation and the city's Department of Environmental Protection. She noted that because of post-Hurricane Katrina regulations, further hydrology studies are required.

"Future development of the basins will be based on the findings and interpretation of the hydrologic studies," Bertuccio wrote.

Locals worry that plant life in the basins will be wiped out during future developments.

Christina Wilkinson, president of the Newtown Historical Society in Ridgewood, remembers hearing about the Ridgewood Reservoir from older locals. The New York native saw the reservoir for the first time in 2007 when she participated in a breeding bird survey with other volunteers.

"We descended into the third basin and walked around fields and forest," Wilkinson told IB Times in an email. "I saw fascinating plants and insects that I have never seen before and I knew at that moment that it needed to be preserved."

Like other reservoir enthusiasts, she wants the area to be accessible to the public, but believes that changes should only go so far.

"The Ridgewood Reservoir has evolved into three distinct ecosystems that should be accessible to the public but be left in their natural states," Wilkinson said. "There is no need to remove the flora and fauna that have found a home in the reservoir basins."

Keeping it Natural

Reservoir advocates recently sent a proposal that suggested two sections of the Ridgewood Reservoir be classified as wetlands, which would incur stricter regulations for development. Comorau noted that the Highland Park Ridgewood Reservoir Alliance sent the request to the Department of Environmental Conservation.

"The question from day one has been 'are these basins, in fact, wetlands?'" Comorau said, adding "We think they should be classified as wetlands." If the Ridgewood Reservoir does qualify, he said, that should limit what the city can do to the basins.

According to a 2010 NYC Department of City Planning land use chart, Brooklyn has 13,182 acres of open space, the most of the NYC boroughs. This acreage makes up 34.5 percent of the borough. Queens has 10,968 acres of open space, according to the Planning chart, making up for 20.6 percent of the borough.

Reservoir supporters also see the reservoir as an educational opportunity to teach New Yorkers a thing or two about nature.

"The reservoir is a site that can be used to teach urban residents about the natural world as well as the history of the Brooklyn Water Works," Wilkinson said in an email.

The Parks department seems to be on board with this. Bertuccio wrote that other developments in the area "may include interpretive and educational signage to relay the Reservoir's rich natural history, wildlife and plant life."


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Waterworks Tour

Tickets and more information can be found by clicking here.

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Upcoming Event

The Newtown Historical Society presents:

History of the Flushing River
Water body separates Newtown and Flushing

Sergey Kadinsky

The Newtown Historical Society is proud to present "The History of the Flushing River" slideshow and lecture by journalist historian and licensed tour guide, Sergey Kadinsky.

He will discuss its geologic history, tributaries, development, the plans of the 1939 and 1964 World's Fairs and its future.

Date: Sunday, August 28th
Time: 2pm
Location: 1883 Stockholm Street, Ridgewood, Queens (in the Stockholm Street Historic District)
Cost: $10 for non-members, $5 for members

Space is limited!  Please RSVP to newtownhistory [AT] gmail.com to reserve your spot.

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Inept Parks Department Begins Work

Despite the local community board's outrage over a poorly thought-out fencing and lighting design for the Ridgewood Reservoir's perimeter, the Department of Parks and Recreation is proceeding with their plans.

Crime is up in parks citywide, yet NYC Park Commissioner Benepe and Queens Commissioner Dorothy Lewandowski think that leaving the 50 acre basins essentially wide open to anyone who wants to jump the fence and disappear into the forests below is a really good idea. Anyone with half a brain can figure out what is going to occur once all the 8 foot fences are removed. This blog has been documenting the travesties involved with the "community input" process and the parks department has been summarily ignoring the people from the surrounding neighborhoods. The removal of the protective fences marks the beginning of the end of the most unique habitat in all of New York City and a historically important landmark. When the first dead bodies are found in the basin and the city decides it would be best to raze the evolving forests and bogs, remember the name Dorothy Lewandowski as she is the city official who should be held responsible.

The following was just published in the Astoria Times:

Construction begins at Ridgewood Reservoir

By Joe Anuta
Thursday, July 7, 2011 10:57 AM EDT

A worker grinds down a stump along the path surrounding the Ridgewood Reservoir.
Photo by Joe Anuta

Construction on the Ridgewood Reservoir is in full swing, which pleased some park-goers but continued to enrage community activists.

Nearly half of the path that winds around the parcel of wilderness is closed to the public as construction crews tear out sections of fence and cut down trees along the edge.

“It’s going to be beautiful, we’re very happy to be working on it,” said one of the construction workers from a Maspeth construction company, who won the contract bid to revamp the green space.

The company will be replacing some of the stone slabs on the edge of the reservoir, installing new lights around the inner circumference of the path and placing benches near especially scenic views. A path that cuts down the middle of the reservoir between two of the large basins was previously off limits, but will also be open to the public under the new plan.

The company will also be installing a ramp to allow disabled residents access to the reservoir.

But one contentious change will be the new fence that is set to replace the chain link barrier that currently surrounds the reservoir.

The new fence will be about 4 feet tall instead of the nearly 8-foot version and has generated friction between the city Parks Department and Community Board 5. Representatives from the board believe the fence is too short and would allow curious explorers unencumbered access to the nature preserve.

“I can step over a 4-foot fence,” said Steve Fiedler, chairman of the board’s Parks Committee. “We want a deterrent.”

People already slip into the reservoir through the dilapidated, porous fence to sleep, consume alcohol, do drugs or even stage paintball matches, he said.

“There is no security there, no cops,” Fiedler said. “It’s a free-for-all.”

But Parks said the shorter fence will allow visitors to actually see the foliage.

Residents were split on whether the shorter fence would be an improvement.

“I think a smaller one is better,” said resident Jose Estebec. “You can actually see everything.”

Kamesha Scott disagreed, saying a taller fence is needed to keep out adventurous kids.

“If you have the kids who want to explore, they’re better off keeping it higher,” she said.

The construction is set to be complete in next spring.

Reach reporter Joe Anuta by e-mail at januta@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4566.

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More on St. Savior's "Park"

The following video from WPIX is just another chapter in the travesty at St. Savior's in Maspeth:


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