Next up on the dock-et…
The Parks Department and waterfront advocates may sue the engineers of Bay Ridge’s ill-fated Eco Dock. The $1.1 million, allegedly hurricane-proof, floater operated just one season as a boat-launch and programming space before a 2015 storm broke the fasteners securing its gangway to the 69th Street Pier. The waterfront group considering the littoral litigation believes it stands on firm legal ground.
“For the community it’s been a tremendous loss, something was not done right there,” said Roland Lewis of the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance. “We’re still evaluating what should be done.”
Both the city and Lewis’s group ran popular free educational and recreational programs at the dock, which only opened for one full season in 2014. Besides being a setting for “floating classrooms,” kayakers could launch from its lower deck, and boats as large 95 feet could tie up there.
It was the first community dock of its type citywide and served as an unofficial pilot for other such jetties around the city. Critics panned the plan in 2012, forecasting that rough waves would wreck the wharf, but city officials claimed it could stand up to even the most punishing blows Mother Nature could send its way.
“And with lessons learned from Hurricane Sandy, we have built the dock to stand up to future storms,” Parks Department commissioner Veronica White said during the opening.
But it was design and lot location that led to the dock’s demise, according to the local councilman who gave $800,000 of taxpayer money to the project.
“Of course, we were told it would withstand the ‘storm of the century,’ and it lasted a little more than a year, so the engineering and installation becomes an issue now,” said Councilman Vincent Gentile (D–Bay Ridge).
The Parks Department has not determined when the Eco Dock will return, but Gentile is angling for an improved berth before he leaves office in 2018, he said.
“I anticipate a different and better Eco Dock when it does finally return — it would be nice if we could have an Eco Dock rebirth before I’m out of here.”
Cowi did not respond to a request for comment.
