Freshkills Park is a
public park
An urban park or metropolitan park, also known as a municipal park (North America) or a public park, public open space, or municipal gardens ( UK), is a park in cities and other incorporated places that offer recreation and green space to r ...
being built atop a former
landfill on
Staten Island. At about , it will be the largest park developed in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
since the 19th century. Its construction began in October 2008 and is slated to continue in phases for at least 30 years. When fully developed by 2035–37,
["Freshkills Park"]
New York City Department of Parks and Recreation
The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, also called the Parks Department or NYC Parks, is the department of the government of New York City responsible for maintaining the city's parks system, preserving and maintaining the ecolog ...
Freshkills Park will be the second-largest park in New York City, after
Pelham Bay Park
Pelham Bay Park is a municipal park located in the northeast corner of the New York City borough of the Bronx. It is, at , the largest public park in New York City. The park is more than three times the size of Manhattan's Central Park. The pa ...
in
the Bronx
The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...
, and almost three times the size of
Central Park
Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban park in the United States, with an estimated ...
in
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
.
[Freshkills Park Vision](_blank)
New York City Department of Parks and Recreation
The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, also called the Parks Department or NYC Parks, is the department of the government of New York City responsible for maintaining the city's parks system, preserving and maintaining the ecolog ...
The park is envisioned as a regional destination that integrates 2,200 acres of open grasslands, waterways and engineered structures into one cohesive and dynamic unit that will host a variety of public spaces and facilities for social, cultural and physical activity, learning and play. Sections of the park will be connected by a circulation system for vehicles and a network of paths for bicyclists and pedestrians. The
New York City Department of Parks and Recreation
The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, also called the Parks Department or NYC Parks, is the department of the government of New York City responsible for maintaining the city's parks system, preserving and maintaining the ecolog ...
(NYC Parks) is managing the project with the
New York City Department of Sanitation
The New York City Department of Sanitation (DSNY) is the department of the government of New York City responsible for garbage collection, recycling collection, street cleaning, and snow removal.
The DSNY motto "New York's Strongest" was coined ...
.
History
Landfill
The landfill opened in 1948 in what was then a salt marsh in a rural agricultural area. The subsoil was clay, with a layer of sand and silt on top. There were tidal wetlands, forests, and freshwater wetlands. The area was considered prime for development because the value of wetlands in buffering storm surges and filtering water was not understood at the time.
The initial plan was to raise the elevation of the land by filling for three years and then redevelop it as a multi-use area with residential, recreational, and industrial components. However, three years turned into fifty years. New York City's population was growing and generating more garbage and it was easy to expand the filling operation on Staten Island. The landfill accepted garbage from 1948 through 2001. By 1955, the landfill was the largest in the world. At the peak of its operation, the contents of twenty barges – each carrying 650 tons of garbage – were added to the site every day. Staten Islanders tried many times to close operations at the landfill and were finally successful in 1996 when regulations were passed to close the landfill by 2001.
In 2001 it was estimated that, if kept open, the landfill would have eventually become the highest point on the East Coast. Under strong community pressure and with support of the
United States Environmental Protection Agency
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent executive agency of the United States federal government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it ...
(EPA), the landfill site was closed on March 22, 2001, but it had to be reopened after the
September 11 attacks
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...
on the
World Trade Center
World Trade Centers are sites recognized by the World Trade Centers Association.
World Trade Center may refer to:
Buildings
* List of World Trade Centers
* World Trade Center (2001–present), a building complex that includes five skyscrapers, a ...
in
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
. Virtually all the materials from the World Trade Center site were sent to the temporarily reopened landfill for examination. Thousands of detectives and forensic evidence specialists worked for over 1.7 million hours at Fresh Kills Landfill to try to recover the remains of people killed in the attacks. A final count of 4,257 human remains were recovered; the City's Chief Medical Examiner retains custody of all still-unidentified materials at a facility within the National 9/11 Memorial in Manhattan. The remaining materials at Fresh Kills were then buried in a 40-acre (160,000 m
2) portion of the landfill that will be known as West Mound. Afterward, the landfill facility was closed permanently, in anticipation of the park on the site.
International design competitions
In 2001, the
New York City Department of City Planning (NYCDCP) held an international design competition following the release of a
Request for Proposal (RFP) for a
landscape architecture firm to develop a master plan for the park. The competition's first round was open to all participants, and in August 2001, six landscape architecture proposals were chosen as finalists. These proposals came from:
James Corner James Corner (born 1961) is a landscape architect and theorist whose works exhibit a focus on "developing innovative approaches toward landscape architectural design and urbanism." His designs of note include Fresh Kills Park on Staten Island and th ...
Field Operations,
Hargreaves Associates, Mathur/da Cunha, Tom Leader Studio,
John McAslan + Partners
John Renwick McAslan (born 16 February 1954) is a British architect.
Education and career
John McAslan was educated at Dunoon Grammar School, Dollar Academy and University of Edinburgh, Scotland, obtaining an MA in Architecture in 1977 and a ...
, RIOS Associates, Inc., and
Sasaki Associates
Sasaki is a design firm specializing in Architecture, Interior Design, Urban Design, Space Planning, Landscape Architecture, Ecology, Civil Engineering, and Place Branding. The firm is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, but practices on an i ...
.
In 2003, James Corner Field Operations was selected as the winner of the competition and was hired to prepare a draft
master plan to guide long-term development of the park. The Draft Master Plan was prepared over the following years and released in March 2006.
In 2006,
NYC Parks became the lead agency overseeing the park development process. In 2011, the
Land Art Generator Initiative
Land Art Generator Initiative (LAGI), founded by Elizabeth Monoian and Robert Ferry, is an organization dedicated to devising alternative energy solutions through sustainable design and public art by providing platforms for scientists and enginee ...
announced Freshkills Park as the site for a design competition, LAGI-NYC 2012. Although construction of the winning design was not guaranteed, the initiative hoped to bring international attention to the aesthetic potential of renewable energy infrastructure.
Planning
Draft Master Plan
The 2006 Draft Master Plan for Freshkills Park envisioned the site as five parks in one, each with a distinct character and programming approach.
[Draft Master Plan Overview](_blank)
, New York City Department of City Planning (DCP), Draft Master Plan. Accessed January 7, 2010. The Plan was developed with input gathered in meetings and workshops between the project team and Staten Islanders, nonprofit groups, and government officials. Goals emerging from the outreach efforts included: roads to ease traffic congestion surrounding the Freshkills Park site; active recreational uses such as kayaking, and sports fields; and projects generating and using renewable sources of energy.
[Fresh Kills Park Project](_blank)
, New York City Department of City Planning (DCP), Community Input. Accessed November 30, 2009. The planning process also included the input of a community advisory group consisting of local leaders and stakeholders.
The five areas envisioned in the draft plan are described below:
* North Park: The 223-acre (0.90 km
2) North Park will retain much of its natural character in order to expand the neighboring habitat of the
William T. Davis Wildlife Refuge
The William T. Davis Wildlife Refuge (WTDWR) is an wildlife refuge straddling the New Springville and Travis sections of Staten Island. The park was named in honor of Staten Island native William T. Davis, a renowned naturalist and entomolog ...
. North Park will largely be devoted to wildlife and passive recreation, though trails for biking, walking, and hiking will also be included
* South Park: Like North Park, South Park contains a significant amount of natural woodland and wetland, but also contains ample flat, non-
wetland
A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The p ...
space for more active recreational uses. The draft master plan for this 425-acre (1.72 km
2) site envisioned tennis courts, trails, athletic facilities, and an
equestrian
The word equestrian is a reference to equestrianism, or horseback riding, derived from Latin ' and ', "horse".
Horseback riding (or Riding in British English)
Examples of this are:
* Equestrian sports
*Equestrian order, one of the upper classes i ...
center.
* East Park: At 482 acres (1.95 km
2), meadows, trails, playing fields and picnic areas were proposed for East Park. A
golf
Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible.
Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping ...
course was also suggested as a means to generate
revenue
In accounting, revenue is the total amount of income generated by the sale of goods and services related to the primary operations of the business.
Commercial revenue may also be referred to as sales or as turnover. Some companies receive reven ...
for operations. A road system connecting
Richmond Avenue
Richmond Avenue is a major north-south thoroughfare on Staten Island, New York. Measuring approximately , the road runs from the South Shore community of Eltingville to the North Shore community of Graniteville.
Street description
Richmon ...
and the
West Shore Expressway has also been proposed for East Park.
[Plan for East Park](_blank)
, DCP Draft Master Plan. 2006. Accessed November 2009.
* West Park: After the
September 11 attacks
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...
at the World Trade Center, about 1,200,000 short tons (1,100,000 long tons) of materials were brought to the West Park site where it was carefully screened and sifted. The search effort did not end until all discernible materials were removed and taken to the
Office of Chief Medical Examiner of the City of New York
The Office of Chief Medical Examiner of the City of New York (OCME) is a department within the city government that investigates cases of persons who die within New York City from criminal violence; by casualty or by suicide; suddenly, when in appa ...
for identification and safekeeping. The Department of Sanitation is still in the process of capping and closing this mound and no formal planning has been undertaken by Parks for this area.
* The Confluence: Located at the meeting point of the site's two creeks is a 70-acre (280,000 m
2) area planned as the center of the park. The Confluence will host visitor and information centers, restaurants, a marina, event spaces and landscapes for passive recreation. Waterborne access to the area has been proposed via the waterways that previously permitted
barge
Barge nowadays generally refers to a flat-bottomed inland waterway vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. The first modern barges were pulled by tugs, but nowadays most are pushed by pusher boats, or other vessels ...
deliveries to the landfill.
[Plan for the Confluence](_blank)
, DCP Draft Master Plan for Freshkills Park. 2006. Accessed November 2009.
Capital Projects
Capital projects entail a complex and lengthy design and permitting process, involving both City and State agencies, to ensure that all landfill infrastructure as well as the developing ecological resources are adequately protected. NYC Parks started park development around the outer edges of the park both to show the City's commitment to transforming the former landfill to local neighborhoods and because permitting was easier. Those projects include:
* Schmul Park: The first project in the Travis neighborhood, the renovation of Schmul Park was completed i
2012 Formerly an asphalt and chain-link fence playground, it was converted into a park with new play surfaces, basketball and handball courts, permeable substrate and concrete, and native plantings.
* Owl Hollow Soccer Fields: DPR then undertook the construction of the Owl Hollow Soccer Fields, on the southeastern side of the park. This project included four new AstroTurf fields located near the intersection of Arden Avenue and
Arthur Kill Road
Arthur Kill Road is a major northeast-southwest artery along the South- West Shore of the New York City borough of Staten Island. It is long, and runs through the neighborhoods of Tottenville, Richmond Valley, Charleston, Rossville, Woodrow ...
. Two of the fields are lit at night for extended, a circular path and parking. The project was completed i
2013
* New Springville Greenway: I
2015 NYC Parks completed the construction of the New Springville Greenway- a new bike and pedestrian path that runs along the edge of Richmond Avenue.
* North Park Phase 1: In 2017, NYC Parks broke ground for North Park Phase 1, a 21-acre arc path that begins at the park entrance and takes visitors along the side of north mound to expansive views of the creeks and will include a composting comfort station, a bird tower and a wetland overlook deck. This park also has a path connecting it to Schmul Park. This project will be complete i
2021
* South Park Anchor Park: In 2016, $30 million in funding was allocated to Freshkills Park as part of the city's Anchor Parks program. The South Park Anchor Park project is in design and includes walking paths, two multi-purpose fields, a comfort station and parking. Design is anticipated to be complete in Novembe
2020
Solar array
In March 2012, NYC released A
Request for Proposals for the construction of solar and/or wind energy facilities.
The project for the construction of solar arrays was awarded to SunEdison in November 2013. NYC was in contractual negotiations with SunEdison when the company went bankrupt in 2016. No further work has been done with renewable energy at Freshkills Park since that time.
Wildlife
The in-construction park is home to a diverse array of wildlife; a 2015 BioBlitz recorded 320 species of plants and animals in a 24-hr period. Ongoing ecological research projects are tracking some of the changes in wildlife as the site transforms from industrial space to green space. Current projects include fish population monitoring, grassland habitat characterization, migratory bird banding, grassland bird monitoring, and bat population monitoring. Over 200 species of birds have been seen at the park either nesting, migrating, hunting, or foraging. Freshkills Park is now home to the largest nesting colony of
Grasshopper Sparrows in New York State–a NYS Species of Special Concern which began nesting on-site in 2015. Common wildlife species at Freshkills Park include
Red-winged Blackbirds,
American Goldfinches,
Red-tailed Hawks
The red-tailed hawk (''Buteo jamaicensis'') is a bird of prey that breeds throughout most of North America, from the interior of Alaska and northern Canada to as far south as Panama and the West Indies. It is one of the most common members with ...
,
American Kestrels,
Osprey
The osprey (''Pandion haliaetus''), , also called sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. It is a large raptor reaching more than in length and across the wings. It is brown o ...
,
Ring-necked Pheasants,
Tree Swallows
The tree swallow (''Tachycineta bicolor'') is a Bird migration, migratory bird of the family Hirundinidae. Found in the Americas, the tree swallow was first described in 1807 by French ornithologist Louis Vieillot as ''Hirundo bicolor''. It has ...
,
Turkey Vultures
The turkey vulture (''Cathartes aura'') is the most widespread of the New World vultures. One of three species in the genus ''Cathartes'' of the family Cathartidae, the turkey vulture ranges from southern Canada to the southernmost tip of South ...
,
Northern Harriers,
Savannah Sparrows,
American Woodcock
The American woodcock (''Scolopax minor''), sometimes colloquially referred to as the timberdoodle, the bogsucker, the hokumpoke, and the Labrador twister, is a small shorebird species found primarily in the eastern half of North America. Woodcoc ...
,
white-tailed deer
The white-tailed deer (''Odocoileus virginianus''), also known as the whitetail or Virginia deer, is a medium-sized deer native to North America, Central America, and South America as far south as Peru and Bolivia. It has also been introduced t ...
,
muskrat,
red foxes,
northern snapping turtles and
diamondback terrapin
The diamondback terrapin or simply terrapin (''Malaclemys terrapin'') is a species of turtle native to the brackish coastal tidal marshes of the Northeastern and southern United States, and in Bermuda. It belongs to the monotypic genus ''Mal ...
s.
Programs
While Freshkills Park continues its development, NYC Parks and the Freshkills Park Alliance have hosted events and programs including active recreation on-site, in areas generally closed to the public. The park is open to the public on bi-annua
Discovery Daysin the spring and fall, when visitors have the opportunity to kayak, bike, hike, and fly kites on a closed section of the park. The Freshkills Park Alliance runs educational and public programs in closed sections of the park, including kayaking, cycling and running events
citizen scienceart projects tours, and field trips. Beginning in 2020, Freshkills Park began offerin
virtual field tripsand programming. The Freshkills Park office regularly partners with cultural and academic organizations on Staten Island and in NYC for these programs.
Landfill operations and state regulations
The
Fresh Kills Landfill
The Fresh Kills Landfill was a landfill covering in the New York City borough of Staten Island in the United States. The name comes from the landfill's location along the banks of the Fresh Kills estuary in western Staten Island.
The landfil ...
actively received New York City's municipal waste from 1947 to 2001. Two of the four mounds at the sitethe mounds referred to as North and Southwere capped in the late 1990s with an impermeable cover separating waste from the environment.
[Freshkills Landfill Turns a New Leaf](_blank)
Monica Ashford. ''Scienceline''. September 19, 2008. Accessed December 14, 2009. Capping of the East Mound, which will become East Park, began in 2007 and was completed in 2011. Capping of the West Mound began in 2011 and is currently scheduled to be complete in 2022.
The Department of Sanitation works with the
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) to meet regulations for environmentally sound landfill closure; it will also maintain operating responsibility for on–site environmental monitoring and control systems after capping. NYC Parks must also meet NYSDEC's regulationsno area of the park is permitted to open to public access until it meets state standards for public access.
[Public Health & Safety](_blank)
NYC Parks. 2009. Accessed December 14, 2009.
NYC Parks completed and released the Final Generic Environmental Impact Statement (FGEIS) for the Freshkills Park project in May 2009. The document evaluates the entirety of the proposed project and its likely effects on the neighboring community. In compliance with state and local law, the FGEIS is designed to identify "any adverse environmental effects of proposed actions, assess their significance, and propose measures to eliminate or mitigate significant impacts".
NYC Parks. Accessed November 30, 2009. A Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) was also completed in October 2009, which specifically focuses on the impact of proposed road construction through the East Park section of the plan and examines alternatives to the current plan.
[Executive Summary](_blank)
NYC Parks Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement. 2009. Accessed November 30, 2009. These environmental assessments are updated on a project by project basis, during the design phase, to ensure that any new or undisclosed environmental impacts are also identified and addressed
References
External links
Freshkills Park: New York City Department of Parks & Recreation information sectionFreshkills Park BlogVideo: Inside Freshkills Park, 2009
{{Protected areas of New York City
Urban public parks
Parks in Staten Island