Metro

Coney Foot Plaza

How do you make Coney Island more like Times Square? Put in a pedestrian plaza!

The city Department of Transportation on Wednesday will reveal its plan to Community Board 13 to replace the street with a plaza of tables, chairs and potted plants on the southern end of Stillwell Avenue.

The plaza — which would strip the neighborhood of 15 coveted metered parking spaces — would run for a block between the Boardwalk and Bowery. The dead-end street is currently flanked by the Scream Zone amusement park, go-kart tracks, a beach bar and a 110-foot-high Boardwalk Flyer thrill ride.

Valerio Ferrari, president of Zamperla USA, which runs the adjacent amusements, said he supports the plaza “100 percent” because “losing a few parking spaces” isn’t as important as “beautifying” the boardwalk’s main gateway and “making it more family-friendly.”

But Stephen “Butch” Moran, vice chairman of CB13, said the project “stinks just like the Times Square pedestrian plaza,” adding, “It will just back more traffic onto Surf Avenue.”

He also said the plaza would make it difficult for emergency vehicles to get onto the boardwalk in a crisis and “devastate” drivers and local businesses because affordable parking in Coney Island is “scarce.”

Jimmy Kokotas, owner of the nearby boardwalk eatery Tom’s Coney Island, said he fears that eliminating the spaces could hurt business but likes that the plaza would offer boardwalk patrons direct access to amusements abutting both sides of Stillwell Avenue without making them cross the street.

“We also don’t want it to become a hangout,” he said. “You want people eating and sitting there 15 to 20 minutes and then giving others a chance.”

Dianna Carlin, owner of Lola Star Boutique on the boardwalk, called the pedestrian-plaza plan “a great idea.”

“I would prefer rides there, but there’s definitely a huge need here for places for people to sit and eat,” she said.

DOT declined comment.

rich.calder@nypost.com