Brooklyn Bridge Park is a major money pit that’s now in danger of losing its biggest draw – waterfront activities like rowboating, canoeing and kayaking, The Post has learned.
The state Department of Environmental Conservation says it has serious concerns over how the park’s planners intend to calm East River waters along the piers of the 85-acre site for water sports and a fancy marina for yachts, motorboats and sailboats.
And with DEC unwilling to issue a permit for a plan it thinks could harm marine life, an Empire State Development Corp. subsidiary overseeing the park plan is once again being asked to make changes to a long-delayed project that’s been in the works for more than two decades.
Previous delays and rising construction costs are already expected to put the project at nearly double its $150 million budget. Excluding a new redesign, city Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe estimates the price tag is “close to $300 million.”
“This plan has been bungled for so long that we shouldn’t be surprised that what this park is being promoted as – a park for beginning boaters – is in peril,” said Judi Francis, who heads a group suing to block high-rise housing from being built within the planned green space.
The park would also contain playing fields and beaches. Of the 85 acres, 12 are on the water and another 8 are set aside for 1,400 units of luxury housing to help offset park-maintenance expenses.
But DEC has issues with key waterfront elements of the park, like floating walkways connecting the edges of Piers 1 through 5 in Brooklyn Heights that feature wave-calming systems.
DEC says the additions could harm marine life by altering currents and shading the river. ESDC’s permit application was submitted in November 2006.
How the issue gets resolved could affect other waterfront parks throughout New York, officials said.
Officials with both DEC and ESDC say they are working to find a solution, but sources told The Post it’s doubtful a permit will be approved without drastic revisions.
A popular floating pool barge that docked last summer near Pier 4 obviously shaded part of the river too, but sources said it was allowed to operate without a necessary environmental permit.
Mariana Koval, president of the nonprofit Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy, called the ESDC’s park plan “extraordinary,” and said she is confident an agreement will be reached to “finally allow New Yorkers to experience a natural waterfront.”