The Brooklyn Parks Department Office along with the Environmental Protection Agency held a zoom meeting on June 15 to give an update on the construction of the Red Hook Ballfields.
The first community update meeting about the Red Hook Ballfields was held in 2015. The EPA deemed that the fields needed to be remediated due to led contamination. As of now, they have updates for when the first three phases will be completed but not the fourth phase of the complex.
There were 54 people who listened into this virtual update meeting. Community members, representatives from teams and area organizations as well as Maisha Morales from Jabari Brisport’s office and Dan Wiley from Nydia Velazquez’s office were among the viewers.
The timeline of the various phases were pushed back due to budget cuts. Parks claims to have hired extra workers over the summer to at least meet a delayed schedule.
“I just want to remind everyone that our parks workers have been working throughout the whole pandemic, and that they are essential workers, so I just want to give respect to our operations staff,” Chief of Staff to Brooklyn Parks Commissioner Davey Ives said.
Daniel Gaughan, who is the on scene coordinator from the EPA, went through some of the history of the site and why EPA got involved. The whole complex except for Field 9 and the track has been closed due to lead contamination and there are four phases that will modernize and fix the fields.
“In 2014, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation referred the site to the EPA,” Gaughan said.
They found that the top six inches of ballfields 5-8 were highly contaminated. That was why they could not stay open. Field nine was able to stay open since the contamination is is further down.
“It is under formal EPA oversight,” Gaughan said. “We have an order signed with parks to do this work. Specifically 5-8 we have built up high levels in the surface. We have built signs around the facility to let people know why it is being closed.”
There will also be at least a 12 inch cover of clean material with soil, fill and turf to cover the site. If anything goes wrong, DEC will provide oversight in the future.
Terry Naranjo, who is a design director on the Brooklyn team of the parks capital division, went over some of the public safety measures that have been part of the construction process due to the contamination.
One public safety measure has included dust monitoring. There has been continuous perimeter dust monitoring during activities where soil id disturbed. To control the dust there are soil pile tarps, frequent spraying of exposed areas with water and a perimeter fencing dust curtain.
They have been monitoring the air quality daily since the construction started. Over the last year, they have covered up the piles of soil to try to contain the dust and have watered it down to make sure the dust does not rise up.
Update on the phases
According to Ives, when they last updated the public they said that phase one would be finished over the summer, but now that is not the case.
Another complication is more paper work with EPA involved.
Phase one includes ball fields 5-8 along Bay Street and soccer field 9. They are expected to reopen this fall.
There will be synthetic turf with new backstops on all fields, perimeter fencing, which is already up, accessible dugouts and new trees, which will provide shade around the seating areas.
A lot of curbs in the dugouts were completed and some of the drinking fountains and spray fixtures have been completed as well. The ramps, staircases and electrical work is also finished.
From now until completion in the fall, they will be back filling the clean soil, which is an important safety measure to prevent access from underground contaminants. They will also be installing the turf, backstops, more fencing, benches, bike racks, bleachers, exterior pavements and plantings.
They were originally targeting phase two to be finished the end of this year but it is now pushed back to the spring of 2022. Phase two includes ball field nine and soccer field two.
The Red Hook Recreation Area Track 1, Soccer Fields 3-5, and Ballfields 1-4 Reconstruction project (PHASE 3) is set to begin construction on July 6th, 2021. This project will reconstruct the track & field and convert three soccer fields and four ballfields from natural turf to synthetic turf at the Red Hook Recreation Area. Starting July 6th, 2021, the site will be closed to the public for the duration of construction (through spring 2023estimated). Signs have been installed in the park alerting the public to impending construction on July 6th.
Phase three, which includes the track that surrounds the soccer field as well as the four baseball fields near IKEA, is now slated to begin construction this summer and be finished in spring of 2023.
According to Naranjo, in their site plan for phase two along Bay Street they will have an improved accessible entrance leading to a seating plaza and their will be a retaining wall. There were also be a preserved grove of existing trees.
So far in phase two, there has been tree pruning and protection of the trees. Much of the utility work has been completed. Many curbs are finished, there is a new entrance from Bay Street, there are new LED light fixtures on Field Nine and there has been installation of storm water lines.
What still has to be done in phase two includes site grading of soccer field two, constructing the pedestrian paths and installing path lighting and drinking fountains.
“Phase three is the largest component and we are excited about it being able to go into construction,” Naranjo said. “It is now in the pre-construction phase. We are hoping to begin construction in July. The anticipated completion is spring 2023.”
The design process takes about one year and procurement takes nine months to a year. Procurement is the process of getting a contractor that is capable and certified of doing the work and that meets all of the standards. Once procurement is complete, construction will begin.
For phase three, they were going to meet with the contractor on site a few weeks after the meeting. They didn’t know an exact date when the construction would begin.
The soccer field will be improved and enlarged with new synthetic turf and there will be a brand new track surrounding the soccer field as well. The field will be able to be used for football and rugby in addition to soccer.
The track, which has been open so far to runners, will have to be closed once the construction begins over the summer for phase three.
“The track will be closed from this summer until spring 2023,” Ives said. “It’s a necessary evil of the construction.
The field that is surrounded by the running track will get brand new lighting so that the area can be utilized at night for recreation and many different sports. Near the track there will also be an adult fitness area and improved areas for picnicking.
Adult fitness can include pull up bars, dip bars and it will be essentially a 2021 version of the fitness area in Bush Clinton Park. They can customize it for different ages so people can utilize various workout stations.
In phase three, there will be new turf fields for ball fields 1-4, plenty of seating, game tables on the perimeter, bleachers near the fields, “shade trees” around the perimeter to help cool off and a misting station, which can be found in all four phases.
Phase four is the final phase and includes soccer fields one and six, which will both have new synthetic turf. There will also be adult fitness stations near soccer field six off of Court Street.
There will be new accessible entrances, lots of new seating for the public including a revamped seating area along Bay Street, which will have an area for food trucks to line up. There will be tables in this area for people who are either watching or playing to fuel and enjoy food from the trucks.
The design of phase four was finished in the spring of this year. As of now, they are in the procurement phase, and they are not sure when construction will begin since it depends how long procurement takes.
“We are very excited,” Naranjo said. “This is going to be one of the premier recreation destinations in the city and with your patience it will eventually get there. We all hoped it would be sooner, but it is coming.”
Besides the Red Hook Ball Fields, another issue that was addressed was the Coffey Park bathroom and sprinklers not being operational. Parks has been working with Carlos Menchaca’s office to get it working again, but they do not know exactly what is causing the electricity to go down.
During the mayoral campaign, former City Commissioner Kathryn Garcia was asked about the slowness of agencies completing projects. The entire mishigoss that you have just read has taken years longer than the three Amazon warehouses rapidly being completed right around the parks.
Garcia’s response was that she has been plagued by the city’s strangling bureaucracy herself. Her plan would have been to do the auditing at the end of projects, rather than the beginning, so we could all enjoy the parks sooner.
