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BROOKLYN WEEKLY, MARCH 10, 2019
BY JULIANNE MCSHANE
They’re exploring the shore.
The city is considering a 10-
block swath of Coney Island Creek
as planners determine where in
the waterway is the best place to
drop a ferry dock, according to
leaders of the agency that oversees
the NYC Ferry system.
Offi cials with the Economic Development
Corporation are surveying
the shoreline between W. 23rd
and W. 33rd streets to determine
the best spot for a berth within
that stretch, a senior project manager
at the agency told locals at a
Feb. 19 meeting of local Community
Board 13.
“We’re looking at a range …
to fi gure out where is best within
that,” said Doug Rose.
In January, Mayor DeBlasio
announced the city would sail
commuter ships from Coney in his
annual State of the City address.
Later that month, Economic Development
Corporation spokeswoman
Stephanie Báez said offi cials are
considering building the berth in
the “general area” around W. 31st
Street and Bayview Avenue, near
the Kaiser Park fi shing pier. Offi -
cials specifi cally marked that site
and another just outside the park
at W. 33rd Street and Bayview Avenue
— which are separated by the
sand spit — as possible dock locations
in the feasibility study released
by the economic agency following
Hizzoner’s announcement.
And at the recent joint meeting
of CB13’s Transportation and Environmental
committees, Councilman
Mark Treyger (D–Coney
Island) said the landing will more
likely end up somewhere near Kaiser
Park, which spans W. 23rd–W.
32nd streets between Neptune and
Bayview avenues, rather than near
the tentative W. 33rd Street location,
due to the adjacent sand spit —
a claim that two economic agency
reps confi rmed on the spot.
“According to the most up-todate
analysis, because of the sandbar
at that location, that Bayview
corridor is not ideal, and it’ll likely
move closer to that Kaiser Park location,”
Treyger said.
Assemblywoman Mathylde
Frontus (D–Coney Island) also
hoped agency honchos would decide
against installing the dock on
the W. 33rd Street side of the sand
spit, expressing concerns about
how a landing there might affect locals
who live on Bayview Avenue.
“I want the ferry in Coney Island
— do I think that W. 33rd
Street and Bayview is the ideal location?
Absolutely not,” Frontus
said at the meeting.
The ferry-feasibility study notes
that building a berth on either side
of the sand spit needs “careful consideration
as shifting sands, fog,
and high winds would be an ongoing
challenge to maintaining safe
and reliable operations here.”
But NYC Ferry honchos are
keeping those challenges in mind
as they study possible sites, according
to Rose, who added that they
are also considering locals’ concerns
about accessibility and potential
quality-of-life issues as they
work to determine a dock location.
Still, Coney Islanders at the
meeting alleged the cons of building
a dock on either side of the
sand spit would outweigh the pros
of bringing ferry service to the
neighborhood, with the co-chairwoman
of CB13’s Environmental
Committee worrying that landings
there would bring even more
traffi c to Bayview Avenue.
“There’s an issue with transportation
and parking over there,
it’s backed up,” said Selena Grant.
“I’m for the ferry, I question the location.”
Starting ferry service would
likely mitigate some of that traffi
c, according to Treyger, who said
the end of the creek near the sand
spit is the peninsula’s only option
for accommodating big boats, due
to the more shallow waters further
up Coney Island Creek.
But another local argued the
dock should be built further up the
creek near W. 21st Street — a location
Borough President Adams endorsed
when calling for ferry service
in Coney back in 2017 — in
order to prompt the city to clean
out more of the waterway to make
way for the service.
“I want to see it at W. 21st Street
— let’s clean up Coney Island
Creek,” said Jeff Sanoff, co-chairman
of CB13’s Environmental
Committee.
Creating a landing that far
up the creek, however, poses additional
challenges, Rose told the
committee members — a reality
his economic-agency colleague
Báez also noted.
LOOKING FOR A LANDING: Offi cials are surveying a 10-block stretch of Coney
Island Creek, seen here from above, for a location to build a new NYC Ferry dock.
NYCEDC
Dock hunt!
City studying 10-block stretch along
Coney Island Creek for ferry landing