Friday, January 24, 2025
Long Beach had an eventful, grant-filled 2024: The city was awarded a total of roughly $7 million by New York state, which will fund everything from new hires and equipment in the fire and police departments to repairs and renovations on the bayfront and in the city’s parks.
The three most recent state grants, awarded in late December, include $170,000 for an economic development planning study of the bayfront, $600,000 for the construction of a salt storage shed, and $390,775 for the rehabilitation of Sherman Brown Park, in the North Park section.
The grants were awarded through the state’s Regional Economic Development Council Initiative, and are part of a total of $16.7 million being distributed across Long Island for nearly 30 projects.
Bayfront study
The city plans to use the $170,000 award to plan the redevelopment of the North Shore Bayfront, which extends west from the Long Beach Bridge to the Recreation Center — from Long Beach Boulevard to Magnolia Boulevard. The study will complement two projects already underway on the bayfront.
“This project is separate, but it’s related,” City Manager Dan Creighton explained. “We have the North Shore Critical Infrastructure Project, that’s protecting the bayside from severe flooding, such as (Superstorm) Sandy, in the future, but we also have the Sewer Consolidation Project that’s going on over there. This study actually goes hand in hand with both of those, because what’s going to happen when the sewer consolidation project is done? We’re going to have a lot of acreage on the bayfront that we can do
something with. We’re also going to have a cleaner bay.”
The study will give residents a chance to weigh in on future development in the area. Patricia Bourne, the city’s director of economic development and planning, said there would be options for in-person and online meetings as well as surveys and information on the city’s website — and on paper for those who prefer it.
“Our goal is to reach out to everyone,” Bourne said. “It’s a diverse community along the bayfront, and we want all those folks involved, as well as everyone in the entire city, to give their input. We want to make it work, and it’s important to make people feel that they’re heard, and we get their great ideas.”
City officials have discussed possible initiatives including more public space, housing or a marina. Creighton said he believes the city needs a marina development on its north shore, repeating an observation he has made before that Long Beach is a waterfront community, yet it has no boat slips. He was quick to add, however, that he doesn’t want to make a decision without public input.
City Council President Brendan Finn agreed with Creighton.
“When I was growing up in Long Beach, we had three or four marinas, and now we have none,” Finn said. “So, certainly, a marina is, I think, something that the people of Long Beach would welcome, and it’s been on our radar since we got into office.”
Salt storage shed
Long Beach stockpiles salt, for treating roads in the winter, on Park Place, by the recycling plant and near the Martin Luther King Jr. Center. Bourne said that the state Department of Environmental Conservation recommended that the city build a salt storage shed, which is what the $600,000 grant will be used for.
“We have to store salt for the winter, and unfortunately, if the salt is not covered, it can start leaking,” Bourne explained, “because it forms a brine and it leaks into the area, which is not good environmentally. We need it during snow events, and it could also leak into the bayfront and into the water.”
Sherman Brown Park
The park is at the intersection of Riverside Boulevard and East Pine Street, across from the MLK Center. It is one of Long Beach’s eight parks and playgrounds.
The city has been rehabilitating its parks over the past few years, and Sherman Brown is next, thanks to the grant of over $390,000. Awarded by the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, the funding will be used to “reimagine the park and make it very attractive and useful for the community’s residents,” Bourne said.
In meetings with residents, she said, officials learned that many area residents use the park as a community meeting place, because many nearby houses have narrow lots, some without backyards.
The city extended its gratitude to the state and elected officials for partnering together to come up with the money to take on these projects.
“I am so ecstatic about the work that has been done and the success achieved over this past year,” Finn said. “It’s around $7 million in grants that the city will be able to use, and take some of the burden off our taxpayers and our residents. We’re on the right track, and it’s a team effort.”
