[
The Mayor’s Office of Recovery & Resiliency]
Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer and local City Councilmember Carlina Rivera
announced the publication yesterday of the final report by independent consultant Hans Gehrels of the Dutch environmental group
Deltares. The two hired Gehrels for a review of the $1.45 billion East Side Coastal Resiliency Project (ESCR) last month.
Among the findings in the report:
• The need for improving transparency and stakeholder engagement
• Ongoing monitoring for air quality impacts to be made available publicly
• Release of City documents that provide evidence for the analysis underlying the Final Environmental Impact Statement
• Further investigation of Interim Flood Protection Measures during the construction period
• Phased construction for continued use of of portions of the park with additional open space mitigation
• Additional clean fill for future flood protection against sea level rise
For your weekend reading, you can find the full 68-page report at this
link.
Stay tuned for more thoughts and analysis as people dig into the report.
Meanwhile...
"We heard the requests of the community for an independent review loud and clear, and we listened," Brewer said in a statement. "Deltares brought their vast experience and expertise to the analysis of this project, and I implore the de Blasio administration to take these suggestions into account before any construction begins."
And per Rivera: "I look forward to carefully reviewing this report and the recommendations from Deltares and hope the de Blasio administration will do the same as they work to address our other outstanding demands."
On Oct. 2,
the de Blasio administration announced more changes to the city's stormproofing plans for East River Park. Instead of the entire Park shutting down for three-plus years starting in March, the flood protection construction will be done in phases, with all of East River Park remaining open until next fall.
The plan still faces a City Council vote as the land use review process winds down.