Tuesday, July 7, 2020

RIOC Announces Temporary Pause Of Roosevelt Island Southpoint Park Shoreline Restoration Project To Provide Community With More Info - Assembly Member Rebecca Seawright To Host July 14 Virtual Town Hall With Acting RIOC President For Community To Ask Questions On Project

A Roosevelt Island resident asked yesterday:

I'm trying to better understand the posters around talking about 320 trees being cut down in Southpoint Park to make way for more walking paths. There seems to be plenty paths down there already. Do you have more information on this plan?

Today, I asked Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC) Acting President Shelton Haynes and the RIOC Board of Directors:
Any statement from RIOC regarding status of Southpoint Park shoreline project and petition from Wildlife Freedom Foundation opposing it?

Assembly member Seawright signed the petition.

Any comment on charge that 325 trees will be destroyed

Will the project be delayed or is it still on schedule. When will work begin?

Acting RIOC President Shelton Haynes replied this evening:
The goal of the Roosevelt Island Southpoint Park project is to repair the erosion of the east and west seawalls and is critical to ensure the health and safety of the public while visiting Southpoint Park. The proposed plan was reviewed and approved by several federal, state, and local agencies charged with protecting the environment, including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI)– Fish and Wildlife Services, the National Marine Fisheries Services (NOAA), and the New York State Departmental of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC). The RIOC Board of Directors unanimously approved the plan earlier this year.

Over the course of the project timeline, RIOC has welcomed feedback from the community and will ensure that the Southpoint Park project preserves the natural habit and wildlife that currently exist, while also enhancing the surrounding greenspace paths. The required work involves the removal of toxic soil that has been inundated with overgrown landfills, choked with invasive vegetation, that must be removed before the seawall can be repaired. Roughly 99 small trees (ten inches in diameter) will be removed and replaced with 79 trees. The tree removal is necessary to access the area to be remediated. In addition, 870 shrubs, 645 other indigenous plantings, and approximately 14,500 sq. ft. of new grass that will encourage more wildlife to visit the shoreline. This project must be completed in order to prevent further deterioration of the seawall due to the ever-increasing impacts of climate change.

Once complete, the waterfront will create a safer, more natural environment where wildlife can thrive. The riprap rock will also be more resilient to future storms and more conducive for wildlife to reach the shore from the river.

Due to community concerns of the project’s potential effects on local flora and fauna, we are pushing the start date back. In the interim, RIOC will provide the community with regular updates on the project through meetings, press releases, its website and social media. To address the immediate concerns of the community, a virtual townhall with Assembly Member Seawright has been scheduled for Tuesday, July 14, 2020. We look forward to working with Assembly Member Seawright and our other stakeholders on bringing this critically needed project to completion.
Assembly Member Seawright adds:
After a call earlier today with RIOC and the Governor’s office, there was an agreement made to temporarily delay the groundbreaking of the Shoreline Restoration Project which was set to begin on July 13. This delay of the seawall replacement is meant to help address recent community concerns.

The Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation has agreed to respond to recent questions on environmental impact before launching the project.

I am pleased that the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation has agreed to temporarily pause the project while all parties work closely with the community to bring clarity to any remaining concerns.

We will be hosting a Virtual Town Hall on Tuesday, July 14 with the Acting President and CEO of RIOC Shelton Haynes where the residents will have a chance to ask any questions they have on the Shoreline Restoration Project.

.RIOC has publicly stated that a priority for the project is the safe relocation of the Cat Sanctuary on Roosevelt Island to a site near the Small Pox Hospital which is due to be completed by the end of the week.
The Roosevelt Island Twitterverse has more.



More on the Southpoint Park Shoreline Restoration project at this March 4 post including video of public community meetings on topic.

By ROOSEVELT ISLANDER at 8:51:00 PM

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