Author: judah

The extensive proposal by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to fortify the New York harbor has been met with a mix of eagerness and trepidation by the public — and yet in some areas, citizens are still oblivious.

The tentatively selected $52 billion Alternative 3b is still in its “preliminary” and “conceptual” planning stage, but the window for public comment on the plan closes at the end of March after already being extended once. 

One of many massive church gate structures slated for construction in 2030, the Arthur Kill barrier would cut right through Tottenville Shore Park within a neighborhood at the southern tip of Staten Island. 

There’s little indication that Tottenville’s residents have any idea it’s being planned.

Note: WordPress is saying my images, even after resizing to 30kb, are too large. I’ve linked them here with captions while I figure it out.

“I can safely say it’s honestly a little hard for us,” resident Chris Bradford said. “If it doesn’t show up in the press … you really don’t hear about it. Nobody’s going door to door to tell you, nobody goes to the community board meetings.”

On Sunday morning at Conference House Park, none of the Tottenville residents approached were aware of the project. But after a very brief summary of the plan — with the ravages of hurricane Sandy fresh in the community’s memory — many residents said they would support the project. 

“It’s certainly the first I’m hearing about it,” a father of two living nearby said. “But even with all the construction, it would sound like it would be a good thing. You know, for the long-term.”

Severe coastal storm risk, heightened by climate change, was the subject of the NY & NJ Harbor Tributaries Study that started 10 years ago with the signing of the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act of 2013 by President Obama. Alternative 3b is just one of five different solutions the Corps considered, ranging from building a massive floodwall to block off the entire harbor to doing nothing at all. 

Local Vanessa Jones was quick to voice her support. 

“It’s just going to get worse from here,” she said, beating dust off a rug in front of her home near the beach. “We can’t keep not doing anything and that’s really all congress does.”

Other sites around the city where such gates are planned, including Jamaica Bay, Red Hook, Newtown and Flushing, have held town hall meetings and have amplified public scrutiny thanks to river alliances and “friends of” groups’ continued divulgence. No such group has advocated for community involvement in Tottenville.

A joint statement on the project was sent to the USACE on behalf of various organizations, including the Newtown Creek Alliance, the Gowanus Canal Conservancy and seven others. 

Listed in the statement on behalf of Staten Island’s Kill Van Kull and Arthur Kill was the Coalition for Wetlands & Forests, a lesser known organization that’s most recent public announcement to date was in 2021. The inclusion unfortunately reads more like a bureaucratic formality than an assurance of collaborative involvement. 

During Community Board 3’s monthly meeting Tuesday night, members passed a motion supporting a seven-foot-tall perimeter fence around a local park, approved a handful of liquor licenses and commented on some tree stumps that needed uprooting. Several other items were on the agenda. The Arthur Kill barrier was not one of them. 

The board members did not respond to a request for comment. Neither did the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; nor the aforementioned coalition.

“It’s a little bit of a shame that they’ve been so lowkey about it,” Bradford remarked. “Because I’m certain there would be a lot of opinions.”

It’s still unsure whether the USACE will be moving forward as recommendations from partners and the public will ultimately determine its fate.

The Corps said a report will be released shortly after the window closes — but without a more aggressive public awareness initiative to clue in every community affected, it may be doomed to fail before construction ever begins.

The severe coastal storm risk to the New York area, fully realized by the onset of Hurricane Sandy in 2012, has prompted the introduction of an over $50 billion plan by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to protect the New York and New Jersey region’s tributaries and coastline.

The plan is “conceptual” and “preliminary”, but its massive and wide-reaching implications mean that no person should be caught unaware.

It was the outcome of the NY & NJ Harbor Tributaries Study, or HATS, that assessed the risk of the region to intense, 100, 200 and 500-year storms (storms thought to only occur once in each respective time period) and offered some solutions. HATS was a part of the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act of 2013, signed into law by president Obama in 2013.

The main, tentatively selected plan out of five is called Alternative 3B.

It would involve the construction and operation of many large-scale primary features. Massive church gate structures would be built on the Arthur Kill and at the Kill Van Kull that protect the inland of New Jersey at the southern and top tips of Staten Island. Along the shoreline in South Brooklyn, near Jamaica Bay, will be multiple surge gates, with three more smaller surge gates on some creeks near Red Hook, near Newtown and one in Flushing. Lower Manhattan, Jersey and East Harlem will receive a blend of elevated promenades, levees, deployable flood barriers and underwater floodwalls.

Other plans, like Plan 2, would see a gigantic wall with a storm surge gate built from New Jersey to Rockaway Point. The plans were drawn up to protect the region, while trying to maintain waterfront activity.

Construction isn’t set to begin until 2030, and residents are encouraged to inform the project and raise issues. However, how exactly will the agencies involved plan on going about connecting with the public?

With an extensive environmental justice and social vulnerability page, it would seem the study has taken into account any adverse effects the Alternative 3B plan could have on any communities that would be disproportionally vulnerable. But what are they actually doing to include memebers of these communities? Will the planners be speaking to them directly? What effects might the plan have on such communities?

How do these communities feel about the plan– do they even know about it yet?

I will reach out to community boards covering these areas, most notably where surge gates will be erected, as well as to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on their plan.

Also, might be too off beat, but with such a long-term plan attempted by an arm of the executive branch, will an administration change in the White House leave the plan unfinished?