By unanimous vote, Community Board 18 last week gave its hearty endorsement to the third phase of a city plan determined to remake Canarsie Park.
The third leg of the ambitious plan is currently being designed by the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation, and the agency indicated to the board that it sought the all−volunteer body’s support, according CB 18 District Manager Dorothy Turano.
According to Parks, the third and final phase will feature a new skate⁄BMX park and a new playground for this section of the park.
The “street style” skate area will be surrounded by the native plant species that have been introduced during the renovations and are now again characteristic of the park, the agency said.
The playground will include new play equipment, a spray feature, benches and additional native planting areas. Councilmember Lew Fidler and Borough President Marty Markowitz funded this phase with allocations of $1.2 million and $600,000, respectively.
Turano was particularly effusive about the agency. “They’ve been phenomenal,” she said. “They are doing a phenomenal job in Canarsie Park.”
Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe recently joined Markowitz and Fidler to cut the ribbon on $6.5 million in renovations in the park, including a new regulation−sized cricket field.
The June 13 ceremony cheered the completion of the first phase of renovations to the park, funded by allocations of $2.9 million from Fidler, $650,000 from Markowitz, and $2.65 million from Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Along with the cricket field, the first phase included construction of new paths, bleachers, steel fencing perimeters, drinking fountains, a picnic grove, benches, and new lighting. The environmentally sensitive plan contoured the landscape for on−site water management including the construction of two lakes, the agency said.
The second phase of renovations is set to begin this fall. It includes the construction of pathways, a fitness trail with exercise stations, an open music pavilion, new park lighting, bicycle racks, benches and steel fencing. New landscaping will include lawn areas, shrubs, and new trees. This phase has been funded by a $3.6 million allocation from Fidler and $115,000 allocated by Bloomberg.
