THURSDAY, AUGUST 15, 2019
The Rockaway Times
Page 11
$220M Downtown Far Rock Revitalization Set to Start Mid-September BUT LOCALS WORRIED ABOUT CONCRETE EFFECTS By Kami-Leigh Agard
After many community board meetings, plans and discussions, Downtown Far Rockaway’s Revitalization will be soon underway with a projected start date of mid-September. The massive reconstruction with a price tag of $220M will replace 80-year-old water mains and sanitary sewers; build new affordable housing buildings; a Pedestrian Plaza at Beach 22nd Street, complete with new curbs and neckdowns; new sidewalks, driveways; and more. However, residents and merchants are worried about massive disruptions as the project has been condensed to be completed by July 15, 2022. Last Thursday, The Rockaway Times and other media were invited to a presentation and a walkthrough of the downtown project led by Department of Design and
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Construction (DDC) representatives and Councilman Donovan Richards, who has had a heavy hand in spearheading Far Rockaway’s revitalization. According to DDC’s Deputy Commissioner of Infrastructure Eric Macfarlane, the amount of money the city is spending in the area is about $220M, with the infrastructure construction alone estimated at
$114M. “Old infrastructure has to be replaced before the economic development affordable housing buildings are finished because they have to connect to the sewers and the water main. So Phase 1 has to be finished, so the other projects can move along,” MacFarlane said. The $114M infrastructure con-
struction plan includes replacement of water mains and sanitary sewers (some that MacFarlane said are at least 80 years old), installation of new storm sewers, reconstruction of roadways, sidewalks, streetscape, and green infrastructure. The infrastructure construction will be done by the Department of Transportation (DOT), NYC Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and other private utilities. MacFarlane said that the infrastructure reconstruction is direly needed and boasted the following benefits: alleviated community flooding conditions, enhanced water main capacity, replacing 80-year-old mains, improved water quality and pressure, and addressing current and future downtown expansion needs and resiliency. “Some of these water mains have been there for over 80 Continued on page 14
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