No end in sight for collapsed ramp at Shore Road Park

Community Board and Department of Parks May Be at Odds on Repair Schedule

April 5, 2017 By John Alexander Brooklyn Daily Eagle

This taped-off ramp leads to the field at Shore Road and 97th Street. Eagle file photo by John Alexander

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A few weeks ago, the Brooklyn Eagle reported on the Shore Road Park ramp closure at 97th Street in Bay Ridge, which has been closed for more than a year due to foundation collapse. Recently, News 12 published a letter from the Department of Parks and Recreation stating, “This area has been closed off for safety and we have been keeping the community board and elected officials informed on reconstruction of the ramp, which should begin in early summer. In the meantime, there is another entrance at 100th Street.”

When the Eagle reached out to Community Board 10, the board that oversees the district the ramp is in, it said that it could not possibly set a time frame of repair since there is still no approved design.

For some residents of the neighborhood, getting to Shore Road Park without the ramp is not an easy task. With the 97th Street entrance closed off, the other closest entries are located at 93rd and Shore Road, and 100th Street. However, both of those entrances require the use of stairs, and the nearest ramp entrance is by the Belt Parkway, which is a greater distance away.

As a result, people continually try to climb over the fence, risking their safety in the process. Once they manage to get over the fence, they must climb down a steep hill.

Coaches carrying large bags of sports equipment, including bases, bats and gloves, must walk for blocks in order to get down to the field. Since it has already taken a year with no progress made, parents of St. Patrick Catholic Academy baseball players have been encouraged to file a complaint with the Parks Department regarding this matter. They were forwarded a form to complete and return from the school’s sports department.

The form strongly urged parents to email Brooklyn Community Board 10 and explain that there is no other easy access to Shore Road Park, and how this seriously impacts individuals with special needs, parents with strollers and elderly individuals who cannot walk the long distance to enjoy the park.

As previously reported on March 24, the Eagle reached out to District Manager Josephine Beckmann, who responded, “Community Board 10 was notified by New York City Parks Department that the collapse of the 97th Street ramp will require a total reconstruction as the walkway is completely undermined. The good news is that funds have been allocated for its refurbishment and the process is underway. Unfortunately, this will mean that the 97th Street ramp will not be repaired in time for this season and the Community Board is awaiting a Parks Department presentation of the new ADA compliant ramp design sometime in April. The 97th Street ramp must remain closed for public safety and while we understand the inconvenience we ask all to please heed the barricades that have been placed for public safety.”

The Eagle recently reached back out to Beckmann, who said, “Community Board 10 was notified that a presentation on the new design of the 97th Street ramp is expected sometime in April 2017. The members of Community Board 10 are looking forward to NYC Parks Department’s design presentation and release of its construction schedule. The closure of the 97th Street ramp has been a hardship for great numbers of park goers — including those who rely on this entrance daily.”

Councilmember Vincent Gentile also addressed the issue in a letter he sent out to residents in the neighborhood. Gentile said that he shared the community’s frustrations with the limited access to the park, stating, “Unfortunately, what is required for this ramp is more than just a simple repaving or repair job. After the most recent partial collapse, structural engineers from the NYC Parks Department determined that the ramp was completely undermined and needed to be closed for public safety. After many years of piecemeal patch jobs, it was decided that the ramp needed to be torn down and completely rebuilt.”

Gentile further explained that because there is a contract in place, there is no need to wait the normal three to four years to procure a contract. He said that originally the Parks Department thought they could begin work in the fall (2016), but they cannot replace the ramp as it was because they are now required to make the new ramp compliant with the American Disabilities Act (ADA), which requires a more complicated design and construction process.

The design for the new ramp was initially slated to have been presented to Community Board 10 in late February or early March. However, that did not happen. The hope was for the construction to begin by late spring (2017) but that also did not happen. With the new design now expected in April, there is currently no timeline for when the construction will begin or how long the construction period will take.

The ramp repair work may not begin by early summer, and certainly not until a plan has been approved and put in place by Community Board 10. According to Beckmann, only the Parks Department can answer the question of how soon the work can begin.