Another Marine Park school will soon be home to a public park.
The city has announced that the schoolyard at P.S. 222, 3301 Quentin Road, will be transformed into a park for the community.
The news comes on the heels of a months-long battle on Fillmore Avenue as P.S. 207 worked to transform its schoolyard into a park.
That project faced opposition from residents living across the street from the school. They complained that the school and city have moved forward with plans without seeking their input.
But in the case of PS. 222, the public has been involved from the start. A meeting was held on November 18 between school officials and representatives from the Marine Park Civic Association.
If this had been the case with the P.S. 207 project, opposition from the community might have been avoided, said City Councilmember Lew Fidler.
“The playground development at P.S. 222 has gotten off to an excellent start,” Fidler told this paper. “It appears that the process is now working correctly. The community is being involved from the beginning. And it seems that those in charge of the project have learned from past omissions.”
The park at P.S. 222 would be geared toward young children, as the school offers classes in pre-K to fifth grade.
Basketball courts will not be created in the park, according to a source familiar with the project.
That is seemingly addressing residents’ fear that basketball courts would attract older teenagers looking for a place to hang out after dark.
Residents living across the street from P.S. 207 have alleged that teens sneak into the park at night and drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes, and vandalize school property.
The new park for P.S. 207, located at 4011 Fillmore Avenue, has already entered the design phase.
According to a rendering, the park will feature new trees, a running track, game tables, an outdoor classroom, a kickball field, exercise equipment, and a stage with benches.
There’s also two basketball courts located in the center of the park and surrounded by a fence. The courts are positioned in the center of the park to diminish the noise homeowners will hear on surrounding streets.
The basketball courts will be removable so P.S. 207’s custodians can take them down when the school day ends, thereby discouraging teens from hanging out after hours.
Marine Park Civic President Greg Borruso has said it’s a “better plan” than what was initially presented.
