According to experts, bringing oysters back to the bay will play a major role in reversing years of degradation to its water quality. Courtesy the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.A section of shoreline and wetlands once plagued by poor treatment will be receiving a dramatic upgrade in the near future, as conceptual plans for the Sunset Cove project were presented to Community Board 14’s Environmental and Parks and Public Safety Committees at the VFW Hall in Broad Channel on Feb. 5.
The plans were met with unanimous affirmative reactions, as Elizabeth Jordan, from NYC Parks, talked through some of the goals and processes involved in rehabilitating the 12-acre site atBroad Channel’s southwestern edge, adjacent to the baseball fields at Broad Channel American Park.
Sunset Cove’s funding has been pooled from various sources, which amounts to about $7.8 million in total. A large chunk of it, $4.8 million, is coming from the U.S. Department of the Interior’s (DOI) Coastal Resilience Grant. Transco Williams, who is currently implementing the Rockaway Lateral pipeline, is following through with their agreement to put $500,000 into the project to help offset their impacts. Another $500,000 is also coming from the NY Rising Community Reconstruction Program. Other contributing agencies include the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and the NYC Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).
Sunset Cover, as it appears now. Photo courtesy the Jamaica Bay EcowatchersUnfortunately, the damage done by the owners of what used to be Schmitt’s Marina — which illegally filled and dumped there for years — requires expensive action to undo.
After years of litigation attempting to get them off the property, it wasn’t until 2009 that the land was finally lifted and assigned to the Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS). It was held under their jurisdiction until local efforts (Broad Channel Civic Association, Jamaica Bay Ecowatchers, Councilman Eric Ulrich, and others) were able to turn it over to NYC Parks, so that its potential for development could eventually be realized.
NYC Parks has cleared out the area and is performing an ongoing environmental assessment.
“Schmitt’s Marina left us a lovely legacy of contamination,” said Jordan.
After initial soil boring and testing, elevated levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB), (used as coolants and lubricants in transformers and other industrial equipment), and elevated levels of metals have been found. The cleanup cost is still unclear but estimated to reach around $3 million. Contaminated soils need to be trucked off and replaced with clean topsoil, sand, and rock.
Though still in its preliminary design phase, the project will consist of a trail that walks over a berm and leads to a boardwalk extending out over the wetlands. An oyster reef will be installed at the shoreline and oyster cage farms will serve as the basis for youth programming at the site, continuing the current hands-on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) trend in education. Additionally, bringing oysters back to the bay will play a major role in reversing years of degradation to its water quality. An adult oyster has the ability to filter up to 50 gallons of water a day. Achieving a self-sustaining population in Jamaica Bay would reward those who live around it with the indispensable ecosystem service these organisms provide.
Construction is anticipated to begin in early 2017 and be completed by June 2017.
In the meantime, countless images of Jamaica Bay sunsets can be found at jamaicabayecowatchers.org/?page _ id=49
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