(Proposed Area for Riverbank Restoration, Future Southern Edge of Starlight Park Will Connect With Concrete Plant Park)
Updated: July 3, 2014
The Bronx River Alliance is excited to announce that Starlight Park, a reclaimed and expanding park which opened in 2013, has received $4.4 million from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to strengthen Starlight’s shoreline along the Bronx River. The money will be used to re-naturalize the shoreline, restore habitat function, and remove contaminated soil within the park. These reinforcements to the shore line will help protect the Bronx community from future extreme weather events such as Hurricane Sandy.
“It’s wonderful,” said Maggie Scott Greenfield, Director of Programs & Development at the Bronx River Alliance. “It enables us to enhance the resiliency of the waterfront in the South Bronx and to move forward with phase two of Starlight Park.”
Phase two of Starlight Park involves connecting the park to Concrete Plant Park, one of the missing links in creating a continuous greenway along the 23 miles of Bronx River shoreline.
Grant funds will be used to restore 1.7 acres of floodplain functions on the Bronx River waterfront. This will be accomplished in part by re-naturalizing 740 feet of armored shoreline and restoring native salt marsh grasses in 0.55 acres of new wetlands. The project would also apply storm water Best Management Practices by integrating rain gardens and infiltration basins
NYC Parks and the Alliance submitted the application for these early this year to the Hurricane Sandy Coastal Resiliency competitive grant program. New York City has set aside $12 million to complete phase two of Starlight Park which will include a pedestrian bridge connecting the existing and the new sections of the park, Greenway bike paths, seating areas, and additional lighting.
Read more about the Grant and Phase Two of Starlight Park Here.
