CRESCENT BEACH SOUTH
By Jim Scarcella
In late June, NRPA teamed up with
the
Elltingville
Business
Improvement Group and Senator
Lanza's office, along with students
from Susan Wagner HS to clean
Tennyson Drive at Richmond Ave.
The debris was varied and plentiful,
household furnishings mixed in with
significant quantities of non-point
source pollution from storm sewer
Page 2
Fall 2015
NATURAL RESOURCES PROTECTIVE ASSOCIATION
VISIT TO TRAVIS AND
CHELSEA
By Jim Scarcella
During the summer we decided to
visit the old village called Travis.
There is a freshwater wetland that
has some development off Travis
Ave. It must be rough in the summer
because of mosquitoes.
When the road crosses over Route
440, it becomes Meredith Avenue
and it’s industrialized. There is a
vacant property next to 290 Meredith
Avenue that has an abandoned
excavator and busted field trailer.
This site could easily be the set for a
horror movie.
After that there is school bus storage
and an Access-A-Ride depot, and
Superior Chocolates in Chelsea.
Doubling back, Travis Avenue turns
into Chelsea Avenue,
adjacent to Saw Mill
Creek. Saw Mill Creek
is now the site of a
NYSDEC approved
mitigation project.
Across from Saw Mill
Creek is a construction
yard, Fun Bubble and an
adult entertainment strip
mall, all in the flood
zone.
Continuing north, you're soon at the
intersection of River Road, which is
the south portion of the old GATX
property. NYCEDC is teaming up
with Brooklyn Brewery and they are
now calling the site Staten Island
Marine Development (SIMD).
There was a public scoping meeting
on July 30th at the SI Hilton. The
SIMD proposal calls for 2 huge
warehouses, a distribution center, a
retail center and restaurant. The
SIMD is supposed to conform to the
NYS DEC consent decree for the
property.
NRPA is submitting comments on
the development proposal.
(continued next page)
NEW DORP BEACH
By Jim Scarcella
In late July, NRPA decided to re-
clean New Dorp Beach, adjacent to
Miller Field. The area had been pre-
viously cleaned by Councilman
Matteo and the Where to Turn team.
The temporary dunes were only par-
tially eroded and the grassroots of
the dune seem to be unifying the
structure.
The water was pretty clear, visibility
to about 4 feet with the Secchi disc.
There were millions of microscopic
creatures in the water column, cope-
pods, crustaceans, arthropods, it
really was a giant soup.
Unfortunately, we are all coming to
realize that the growing threat of dis-
solved plastics are a major problem
in our waterways, bays and oceans.
Tiny microbeads of plastic are insidi-
ous and marine life is suffering from
eating and attempting to digest these
poisons.
Currently, the project status as of
August 2015 is in Phase One design
and in the permitting process. The
CAC has goals and challenges
which include:
Goals
Protect the community from
wave inundation; mitigate ero-
sion along the shoreline; limit the
risk to the community
Create opportunities for new ma-
rine habitat
Provide waterfront access
New recreational opportunities
Fill budget gaps; identify other
funding sources
Connect children and educators
to the project
Engage non-government part-
ners on monitoring
Continue to engage the commu-
nity on both projects
Challenges
Permitting
Timeline
Budget
Impacts (community and envi-
ronment)
Monitoring
Operation and maintenance
To learn more please go to:
Coastal and Social Resiliency
Initiatives for Tottenville Shore-
line, Staten Island, NY Environ-
mental Impact Statement Draft
Scope of Work at http://
s tormrecover y.ny.gov / s ites /
d e f a u l t / f i l e s / u p l o a d s /
coastal_and_social_resiliency_in
i t i a t i v e s _ -
_tottenville_draft_scope.pdf
Or
living-breakwaters-tottenville
O r
c o n t a c t
m e a t
discharge.
Some items were a
bonus, like a case of unopened
Budweiser beer cans. There was
still a lot of debris from Hurricane
Sandy, such as lawn furniture,
swimming pool parts and fence
pieces.
We even ventured further south to
clean a portion of Annadale Beach,
where we recovered a stolen bicycle,
and two bags of cloth rags.
We trimmed the overgrown weeds
and cleared the walking trail to the
beach.
Please join us on our next clean up,
scheduled for Saturday, September
19th from 9 AM to 12 PM at Lemon
Creek Park, Seguine Point.
