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A STRONGER, MORE RESILIENT NEW YORKJamaica Bay

Credit: Eddie Yee

CHAPTER 16 | SOUTH QUEENS 302

South Queens

At the southernmost point of Queens liesthe only unobstructed coastline in all ofNew York City, the11-mile-long RockawayPeninsula. Behind it are the 31 square miles ofwater that comprise Jamaica Bay. On the Penin-sula and around the Bay are manyneighborhoods that, at first glance, may seemto have little in common.

Far Rockaway, for example, sits at the easternend of the Rockaway Peninsula, with sturdybrick high rises and tiny bungalows along theAtlantic Ocean and the A train rumbling on ele-vated tracks.

By contrast, Belle Harbor, which is farther westalong the Peninsula, contains many large sin-gle-family houses dating from the 1920s, withtidy lawns, lining quiet streets.

Broad Channel’s residents, meanwhile, occupy askinny, mile-long island right in the middle of Ja-maica Bay—an island they share with hundredsof species of birds that inhabit the Jamaica BayWildlife Refuge, which is also found there.

Yet, despite their differences, these three com-munities, along with the other neighborhoodson the Peninsula and ringing Jamaica Bay—including New Howard Beach, Old Howard

Beach, and Hamilton Beach on the Bay’s northside—are alike in certain very profound ways.

All of these neighborhoods—collectively referred to in this chapter as “South Queens”—share a common geomorphology. This entirearea was once comprised of barrier islands andmarshland, all made of the soft soil left behindby the glacier that covered, and helped form,New York City some 22,000 years ago. The areahas the lowest elevation of any in the city—in

places almost at sea level—making parts of itsusceptible to flooding from even the regularmovement of the tides.

And the area continues to evolve. In fact, the nat-ural movement of sediment from east to westalong the Rockaway Peninsula over the courseof the 20th century formed what is today thecommunity of Breezy Point—an area built onland that literally did not exist just a short timeago. As these changes in the Rockaway Penin-

A STRONGER, MORE RESILIENT NEW YORK303

Edgemere

Bayswater

Atlantic BeachArverne

Somerville

Hamilton Beach

Neponsit

Brant Point

Far Rockaway

Breezy Point

New Howard Beach

Belle Harbor

Broad Channel

Old Howard Beach

Jamaica Bay

Jamaica Bay

Atlantic Ocean

Rockaway Park

Jacob Riis Park

Rockaway Beach

Fort Tilden

Breezy Point Tip

RockawayInlet

Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge

Roxbury

Subway Lines

Parks

SIRR Area

Neighborhoods of South Queens

Rockaway Beach Credit: Daniel Avila/NYC Parks


sula have added land, they also have taken landaway. The Peninsula, which acts as a barriershielding the areas lying inland from it, once it-self was partially shielded by smaller barrierislands to the south. Over time, though, thosesmaller islands disappeared, leaving the Penin-sula completely exposed to the ocean andmaking its coastline significantly more vulnera-ble. (See map: The Shoreline: Then and Now)

Just as the neighborhoods of South Queenspossess a common geomorphology, they alsoshare a history of development. Generally, theyfirst sprang up in the 19th century as seasonalrecreational destinations, with pockets of smallsummer homes and bungalows spreadthroughout the Peninsula, New Howard Beach,Old Howard Beach, and Hamilton Beach, andmore stately homes and hotels lining the Penin-sula’s oceanfront. This early development wasspurred by the advent of a rail line to the Rock-aways—the forerunner of the right-of-way thattoday carries the A train across Jamaica Bay.

After the construction of Cross Bay Boulevardin 1923, the area’s neighborhoods began to at-tract year-round residents. This acceleratedwith the end of World War II, when propertyowners and government entities began pavingover marshland, hardening shorelines withbulkheads and seawalls, and building newhouses, some on landfill.

In the 1950s, a new wave of developmentbegan, this time focused primarily on the Penin-sula. There, the public sector and privatedevelopers began constructing nursing homes,public housing developments, and affordablehousing projects under the Mitchell-Lama pro-gram. This trend continued through the 1960sand 1970s, resulting in high concentrations ofdisadvantaged populations in certain parts ofSouth Queens.

In recent decades, the neighborhoods of SouthQueens have continued to develop and flourish,with new residents, attracted by the desirabilityof living at or near the city’s oceanfront, joiningthose who have lived in these areas for genera-tions. Both newcomers and long-standing arearesidents value the area’s tranquil atmosphere,scenic locale, and strong sense of community.

On October 29, 2012, a new chapter in thecommon history of South Queens was writtenwith the arrival of Sandy. Waves struck thePeninsula’s coastline, smashing houses, splin-tering large sections of boardwalk, causingwidespread flooding, and washing away orthrusting onto neighborhood streets and prop-erties at least 1.5 million cubic yards of beachsand. The storm surge pushed through Rock-away Inlet, overtopping bulkheads and seawalls

throughout the Bay and bringing significant in-undation to many Bay-lining neighborhoods.Though the storm brought hardship to manyparts of New York, it was particularly devastat-ing for this area.

Compounding the destruction caused by flood-waters, serious fires also broke out along thePeninsula in Breezy Point, Belle Harbor, andRockaway Park. In most cases, these fires werecaused by the interaction of salt water and electrical equipment. Due to the severe flooding in these areas, fire trucks were simplyunable to reach affected homes and busi-nesses. As a result, flames spread and fires

burned uncontrolled for significant periods. Intotal, some 175 homes and businesses weredestroyed.

Although rebuilding in South Queens is well un-derway as of the writing of this report, it is clearthat simply restoring what existed in theseneighborhoods before Sandy’s arrival is notenough. As the climate changes, this area’s vul-nerabilities will only grow.

Entirely new layers of protection are needed forSouth Queens. This plan—which reflects theoverarching goals of this report, namely to limitthe effects of extreme weather, while enabling

The Shoreline: Then and Now

Hamilton Beach

Source: Coast and Geodetic Survey, October 1903

Credit: Nate Dorr


New York and its neighborhoods to bounceback quickly when those impacts cannot beprevented—proposes such protections. It ad-dresses the area’s most significant risks—itsvulnerability to storm surge and rising sea lev-els—seeking to limit oceanfront and bayside

exposures to floodwaters, facilitate the rebuild-ing and retrofitting of buildings in a moreresilient fashion, and protect vital infrastructuremore effectively. It also addresses otherthreats, including the increasing frequency ofheavy downpours, heat waves, and high winds,

by drawing on both citywide and locally tailoredinitiatives. Finally, the plan will build on thearea’s natural assets, local economic strengths,and community spirit to encourage reinvest-ment in its waterfront neighborhoods. This planwill ensure that South Queens is able to comeback stronger after Sandy, and better preparedto confront a future of growing risks.

Area Characteristics

South Queens is predominantly residential,home to 130,000 people who inhabit some 15different neighborhoods. Most businesses andnonprofits in the area are small, occupying com-mercial corridors that cater to local residentsand summer visitors. However, there are somemajor employers in the area, especially in thehealthcare sector. There is also significant infra-structure underpinning the everyday activitiesof those who live, work, and play in the area.

However, what truly sets South Queens apart isits unmatched recreational resources thatserve not only the local communities, but theentire city. South Queens is one of New York’sgreat summertime playgrounds.

Public beaches line nearly the entire stretch ofthe Rockaway Peninsula—adding up to thelargest urban beach in America, lined, alongfive miles, with a boardwalk. While the Depart-ment of Parks & Recreation (DPR) managesapproximately seven miles of beachfront in theRockaways, an additional four miles, curvingaround the western end of the Peninsula, areunder the jurisdiction of the National Park Serv-ice (NPS), part of the Gateway NationalRecreation Area.

In the Rockaways, the properties managed byNPS include the Robert Moses-designed JacobRiis Park, which attracts visitors who mostly ar-rive by car or bus, lured not only by the beachbut also by the famous Art Deco bathhouse thathosts ranger-led programs and history exhibits.Next door at Fort Tilden, a decommissioned mil-itary base, NPS maintains natural areas such asa maritime forest and freshwater ponds. Finally,there is Breezy Point Tip, an isolated NPS beachfronting Jamaica Bay.

Jamaica Bay itself is another precious natural re-source in the area, containing a variety of nativehabitats including the city’s largest remainingnatural marshlands. Based on concerns aboutthe accelerated loss of marshland within the Bayover the last century, governmental efforts wereput in place to preserve and restore the Bay’secology. As a result, today much of the Bay issurrounded by parkland, some controlled byNPS and some by the City. After working inde-

86%

8%

Total = 24,200 Buildings

3%

1% 1%1%

Multi-Family (elevator)

Mixed

Commercial/Non-Profit

Other

1- and 2- Family

Multi-Family (walk-up)

Area Buildings Characterized by Building Type

41%

11%

45%

3%

Total = 53,000 Housing Units

Multi-Family (elevator)

Mixed

1- and 2- Family

Multi-Family (walk-up)

Area Housing Units Characterized by Building Type

Source: DCP PLUTO

Source: DCP PLUTO


pendently for decades, in 2012, the City formal-ized a partnership with NPS to allowcoordinated management of a total of 10,000acres of parkland, with a focus on enhancingrecreational amenities and the resiliency of theBay and its surrounding neighborhoods.

Neighborhoods and Residential DevelopmentDespite their bountiful amenities, as mentionedpreviously, the neighborhoods of South Queensare, first and foremost, residential, containing amix of housing types that range from bungalowsto multi-family elevator buildings. Most residen-tial buildings (86 percent) are 1- or 2-familyhomes, and 78 percent of the residential build-ings in the area were constructed prior to 1961,when modern construction standards wereadopted. These buildings (“combustible struc-tures,” in the City’s nomenclature) tend to beconstructed of lighter structural componentssuch as wood. Though most buildings in SouthQueens are 1- or 2-family homes, more than halfof all housing units (55 percent) are located inmulti-family buildings. These multi-family build-ings include six public housing developmentsoperated by the New York City Housing Author-ity (NYCHA) and seven Mitchell-Lamadevelopments. (See chart: Area Buildings Char-acterized by Building Type; see chart: AreaHousing Units characterized by Building Type)

Rockaway Peninsula Neighborhoods:On the easternmost end of the Rockaway Penin-sula are found the neighborhoods of Bayswaterand Far Rockaway, jointly referred to in thischapter as “Far Rockaway.” Much denser thanthe other neighborhoods on the Peninsula, FarRockaway is home to 54,000 residents—42 per-cent of South Queens’s total population. Unlikethe other neighborhoods of South Queens, FarRockaway is built on land that is slightly ele-vated, making it less prone to flooding. This partof the Peninsula is also partially protected bygroins and a portion of the Long Beach barrierisland that is a part of Nassau County.

To the west of Far Rockaway are five neighbor-hoods that together are referred to here as“Rockaway.” These neighborhoods are Arverne,Somerville, Edgemere, Rockaway Park, andRockaway Beach. This area, with a population of49,100, is the second most densely populatedpart of South Queens, owing in part to fiveNYCHA developments containing over 3,400units and seven Mitchell-Lama buildings.

Particularly noteworthy in the Rockaway area isthe neighborhood of Arverne. This communityhistorically consisted of bungalow housing thatwas cleared as part of an urban renewal projectin the 1960’s. After laying fallow for manydecades, the area began to spring back to life

in recent decades with the construction ofArverne By The Sea, a 117-acre mixed-use de-velopment between Beach 62nd and 80thStreets, which opened in 2008. The City notonly required that the new development beconstructed on an elevated site, it also calledfor a wide planted dune system facing theocean—design features that would serve thecommunity well during Sandy. Additional urbanrenewal land east of Arverne By The Sea re-mains undeveloped.

North of Arverne, fronting Jamaica Bay, are theneighborhoods of Somerville and Edgemere.There, older bungalows and single-family homesbuilt of “combustible” materials predominate.The area also contains newer affordable home-ownership and rental units developed by theHousing Partnership, the primary City-spon-sored developer of affordable housing units inthe five boroughs. Between Somerville and Ja-maica Bay lies Brant Point Wildlife Sanctuary,which is mostly undeveloped marshland thatpreserves natural habitat and helps protectneighboring areas from floodwaters.

To the west of Arverne, Somerville and Edge-mere are Rockaway Park and Rockaway Beach.These areas have a mix of high- and low-risebuildings, ranging from multi-family complexesto clusters of bungalows. Fronting RockawayBeach (as well as Arverne) are the first legalsurfing beaches in New York City, which increas-ingly attract surfers from all five boroughs.

Farther west are Neponsit and Belle Harbor,neighborhoods that together have 5,500 resi-dents who primarily inhabit larger single-familyhomes. They sit directly next to Jacob Riis andFort Tilden National Parks.

At the westernmost tip of the Peninsula, lies adistinct area composed of the private commu-nities of Roxbury and Breezy Point. Part ofBreezy Point faces the ocean and another part,like Roxbury, fronts Rockaway Inlet. Nearly4,100 residents live in 3,400 single-familyhomes and bungalows in these communities onland owned by the Breezy Point Cooperative.The Cooperative maintains its own infrastruc-ture, controls access to its beachfront, and setsits own rules governing the construction andmaintenance of properties.

Homes of South Queens

Credit: Municipal Art Society Credit: Quiggty4/Flickr

Credit: Uli Seit/New York Times Credit: Chester Higgins, Jr./New York Times

Broad Channel Neponsit

Far Rockaway Rockaway Beach


Jamaica Bay Neighborhoods: On the Jamaica Bay island of Broad Channel, res-idents live on the southern portion of the islandwhile the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge occupiesthe northern end. The community’s 2,400 resi-dents dwell in approximately 1,000 single-familyhomes, some on stilts—with many lining narrowchannels on the island’s western shore.

Finally, on the far side of the Bay, north of BroadChannel are New Howard Beach, Old HowardBeach, and Hamilton Beach. Together theseareas have a population of 14,700. Old Howardand Hamilton Beaches generally contain smaller“combustible” single-family houses, includingbungalows dating to the early twentieth century.New Howard Beach, meanwhile, tends to containhomes that are larger and newer, most sitting atslightly higher elevations. These neighborhoods

contain numerous narrow basins providing access to small docks for recreational boating.

Socioeconomic CharacteristicsThe socioeconomic makeup of South Queens asa whole is roughly comparable to the city as awhole, with, for example, an average povertyrate of 18 percent in South Queens, that mirrorsthe rate across the five boroughs. Median house-hold income across South Queens, meanwhile,is slightly higher ($55,000) than the citywide av-erage ($51,300). The same is true of the rate ofhome ownership, which is about one third higherthan the citywide average of 33 percent.

However, there are dramatic socioeconomicdifferences from neighborhood to neighbor-hood in South Queens. For example, in BroadChannel the poverty rate is only 1 percent,while the rates for Rockaway and Far Rockawayare 21 percent and 22 percent, respectively.Similarly, whereas the rate of homeownershipin New Howard Beach and Breezy Point areboth at 95 percent, the average rate for Rock-away and Far Rockaway is around 32 percent.(See table: Socioeconomic Characteristics)

Businesses, Nonprofits, and the Local EconomyGenerally speaking, businesses and nonprofits inSouth Queens tend to be small enterprises, withover 80 percent of businesses in the area employ-ing fewer than 10 people. Though by number, thearea’s small businesses predominate, there aresome larger enterprises in South Queens that ac-count for a substantial portion of area

Socioeconomic Characteristics

39

27

19

11

8

7

4

NYC average = 42 people/acre

Rockaway

Old Howard Beach/Hamilton Beach

New Howard Beach

Far Rockaway

Broad Channel

Breezy Point/Roxbury

Belle Harbor/Neponsit

0 10 20 30 40 50

Population Density of South Queens

Area PopulationPoverty

Rate

Median Household

IncomeHouseholds

Owner-OccupiedHousing Units

% Homeowners

% Owner-Occupied

Housing Unitswith Mortgage

Median Owner-

Occupied UnitValue

Far Rockaway 54,000 22% $39,800 17,100 4,400 26% 76% $474,200

Rockaway 49,100 21% $49,200 17,600 6,700 38% 59% $384,100

Belle Harbor/Neponsit 5,500 2% $117,200 2,100 1,900 90% 50% $810,700

Breezy Point/Roxbury 4,100 2% $86,900 1,800 1,700 95% 44% $557,300

Broad Channel 2,400 1% $78,200 850 700 78% 78% $424,000

New Howard Beach 7,400 9% $92,700 2,900 2,800 95% 53% $673,000

Old Howard Beach/Hamilton Beach

7,300 7% $72,000 2,700 2,000 75% 50% $550,400

Citywide Total/Average

8,175,000 19% $51,300 3,050,000 993,500 33% 64% $514,900

Source: 2010 US Census, 2011 American Community Survey, 5-Year estimate

Source: 2010 US Census


employment. In fact, approximately one-half ofthe employees of South Queens businesses workfor companies and institutions that employ over100 people. (See chart: Profile of Area Businesses)

Among the important industries in SouthQueens, perhaps the most significant is health-care. This sector includes most of the area’slarger employers, ranging from local medical of-fices, to nursing homes, adult care facilities, anda hospital. Two of the major healthcare providersin South Queens are Peninsula General NursingHome Corporation and St. John’s Episcopal Hos-pital. Since the closure of Peninsula HospitalCenter in 2012, St. John’s, with an inpatient bedcapacity of approximately 400, has been the solehospital in all of South Queens.

Though the manufacturing sector does not playa significant role in South Queens, one major em-ployer in the area is a manufacturer: MadelaineChocolates. This company, located in RockawayBeach, is, in fact, one of South Queens’s largeremployers. Located in its current location since1967, before Sandy, the company employed 450people and, on a typical day, turned 100,000pounds of chocolate into Easter eggs, Chanukahgelt, and other confections.

Retail is another important sector of the SouthQueens economy. Generally, businesses in thissector can be found in the area’s many com-mercial corridors that traditionally serve localresidents and seasonal visitors. Commercialcorridors include:

• Mott Avenue: Far Rockaway’s main commercialcorridor, this area is anchored by governmentaland educational institutions. It is also served bymultiple modes of public transit. The area includes a mix of small businesses and nonprof-its as well as larger chain supermarkets andretailers. The area is the only commercial corri-dor in South Queens served by a localeconomic development organization, the Rock-away Development & RevitalizationCorporation.

• Beach 116th Street: This commercial corridorruns from Jamaica Bay to the beach and islined with small businesses. It intersects withanother retail strip for a few blocks alongRockaway Beach Boulevard. Though the loca-tion has many advantages, including theterminus of the A line and access to both thebeach and the Bay, the area has, struggled inrecent years with the impact of vacant or un-derutilized buildings.

• Beach 129th Street: A smaller strip of retail,service, and dining establishments, this corri-dor primarily serves residents of Neponsitand Belle Harbor.

• Cross Bay Boulevard: This thoroughfare, run-ning from the northern end of Jamaica Bay to

the Rockaways, serves as the main commer-cial corridor of Howard Beach. It contains anauto-oriented retail strip, big-box retail, and,facing the water, restaurants and bars that arepopular during the summer.

• Broad Channel: About a dozen retailers serv-ing this community are scattered throughoutthe island.

In addition to the foregoing businesses and non-profits that provide year-round employment and

economic activity throughout South Queens, thePeninsula’s beachfront and boardwalk also sup-port a significant seasonal workforce. Forexample, during summer months, DPR hires life-guards for the City’s beaches, and restaurantsand vendors, including Rockaway Park’s popularRockaway Taco, hire extra wait staff.

Notwithstanding this diversity of economic ac-tivity and the positive momentum from recentgrowth in the year-round surfing community

Jamaica Bay

Jamaica Bay

Atlantic Ocean

Joseph P. AddabboMemorial Bridge

Beach / Boardwalk (DRP)

Rockaway WWTP (DEP)

Cross Bay Boulevard Elevated A-Train (MTA)

Marine Parkway Gil Hodges

Bridge

Long IslandRail Road (LIRR)

Cross Bay Bridge

Beach (NPS)

Beach (NPS)

RockawayInlet

Critical Infrastructure

Businesses (by size of business)

1 to 4

5 - 9

50 - 99

Employees (by size of business)

Total: 2.9k Total: 25.6k

8%

Emp

loye

e Si

ze

100+

10 - 49

82%

7%1%2%

17%

6%

8%

16%

53%

Profile of Area Businesses

Source: Hoovers


and revitalized concessions around RockawayBeach and Arverne, many businesses and non-profits in South Queens had been strugglingeven before Sandy. This was due to a combina-tion of factors, including the impact of thesevere economic downturn that began in 2008.

Critical InfrastructureSouth Queens contains a number of key infra-structure assets that serve the area and thelarger city beyond. These include assets thatare a part of the region’s transportation net-work, process area wastewater, and act as vitalcoastal protections.(See map: Critical Infra-structure)

Among the transportation assets that can befound in the neighborhoods of South Queens,several serve as a critical link between this geo-graphically isolated area and the rest of the city.For example, Cross Bay Boulevard and the GilHodges Memorial Bridge, both north-south ar-teries, provide vehicular access to the RockawayPeninsula (and, in the case of Cross Bay Boule-vard, to Broad Channel) from South Queens andSouthern Brooklyn. The Metropolitan Trans-portation Authority’s (MTA) A train and shuttleservices that run on its lines, meanwhile, link the

Rockaway Peninsula, Broad Channel, andHoward Beach via a causeway that traverses Ja-maica Bay. On a typical weekday, thousands ofdaily commuters ride the A train, along with theLong Island Railroad, which stops in Far Rock-away, and the many bus lines serving the area.

South Queens is home to the Rockaway Waste-water Treatment Plant. The plant has been inoperation since 1952 and treats 45 million gal-lons of wastewater per day while also receivingstormwater runoff. The facility, operated by theNew York City Department of EnvironmentalProtection (DEP), sits on low-lying land immedi-ately adjacent to Jamaica Bay and is, therefore,one of the most vulnerable facilities in DEP’snetwork to flooding and other weather-relatedevents.

The Rockaway Wastewater Treatment Plant re-ceives flow from the area’s sanitary sewersystem. Much of the Rockaways have been un-dergoing storm sewer build-out for years.Projects have included the extension, replace-ment, and installation of various water mainsand sanitary and storm sewers throughout thePeninsula. However, the required build-out inthe area is extensive, and in some neighbor-

hoods, such as Far Rockaway, Edgemere, andBroad Channel, the storm sewer system hasnot been completed. As a result of this andtheir low elevation, these neighborhoods tendto be more susceptible to flooding.

Another important piece of infrastructure inSouth Queens is one that provides a coastalprotection function: the area’s beaches—espe-cially those, along the Rockaway Peninsula,facing the Atlantic Ocean. However, in mostplaces, these beaches lack dunes, groins andother forms of coastal protection. As a result,they experience regular erosion.

In response to this erosion, starting in 1977, theUS Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) designedand implemented two major beach nourish-ment projects extending from Neponsitthrough Far Rockaway. However, in 2004, dueto the high costs associated with these proj-ects, the USACE deferred further nourishmentand other planned projects, with a goal of find-ing more cost-effective solutions. In the interim,though, the area’s beaches have continued toerode, reducing their ability to protect theneighborhoods along the Peninsula.

Jamaica Bay

Jamaica Bay

Atlantic Ocean

Inundation (Feet Above Ground)

Less Than 3

3 - 6

6 - 10

More Than 10

RockawayInlet

South Queens Surge Heights

Source: FEMA (MOTF 11/6 Hindcast surge extent)


What Happened During Sandy

Arriving almost exactly at the moment of hightide in South Queens, Sandy brought a massivestorm surge and battering waves to the neigh-borhoods of South Queens, wreaking havoc onthe area. Most of the destruction brought bySandy to these neighborhoods was, directly orindirectly, attributable to the huge volumes ofwater that inundated the area. This inundationfollowed three paths. First, areas flooded whenwaves rose directly up over beaches and brokeagainst the neighborhoods behind them. Sec-ond, floodwaters were funneled through theRockaway Inlet, throughout Jamaica Bay, andthen into the tributaries and channels aroundthe circumference of the Bay. Finally, in someplaces, inundation entered areas through low-lying drainage infrastructure that never wasintended to face flooding of this magnitude.(See map: South Queens Surge Heights)

The result of all of this was widespread loss—building damage, power and transportationoutages, disruptions in other services, displace-ment, and financial hardship for manyresidents, businesses, and nonprofits. Through-out South Queens, though few areas escapedharm altogether, different neighborhoods didexperience the storm in different ways.

Compared to other neighborhoods in SouthQueens, generally speaking, Far Rockaway ex-perienced minimal flooding associated withSandy’s surge due to its higher elevation andthe fact that a portion of the coastline is pro-tected by Long Beach. However, some pocketsof Bayswater and the southern portions of FarRockaway experienced more flooding thanadjacent areas.

In Arverne, meanwhile, Sandy’s surge breachedthe coastline, damaging beach-facing homes.However, damage was mitigated in large sectionsof Arverne By The Sea, where the dune systemon the beach in front of the new development ab-sorbed the impact of waves, while the elevatedsite and special drainage features in the develop-ment kept most housing units free of water.

Farther to the west, in Rockaway Park and Rock-away Beach, as in other sections of thePeninsula, Sandy’s surge waters spreadthroughout the area. The net result in thesecommunities was significant damage to build-ing systems in high-rise structures (knockingout critical services like electricity and water),as well as flooding and structural damage tomany of the area’s low-rise buildings.

Even farther to the west on the Peninsula, dam-age generally increased. In these areas,high-velocity waves struck unprotected Belle

Harbor, Neponsit, Roxbury, and Breezy Point,smashing structures facing the ocean and send-ing floodwaters down streets, onto properties,and into basements and ground floors. Vastamounts of sand also were pushed onto neigh-borhood streets, sidewalks, and private land.

At Riis Park, the parking lot and Art Deco bath-house experienced significant damage, thoughit was not impacted structurally. At Fort Tilden,the entire network of protective dunes was lost,with the storm uncovering an old seawall withmetal rebar and jagged debris. Fort Tilden re-mains closed as of the writing of this report.

Even as Sandy’s surge attacked the RockawayPeninsula from the ocean, it was also pushing

through Rockaway Inlet. As it raised water lev-els in the area, it inundated Roxbury, damagingBay-facing homes in the neighborhood.

From the Rockaway Inlet, the surge spreadthroughout Jamaica Bay, overtopping deterio-rated seawalls along Belle Harbor and Neponsitand bringing floodwaters into these neighbor-hoods from that direction as well. As a result,at these and other points along the Peninsulathe “ocean met the bay,” with flood heightsreaching as high as 10 feet.

Other Bay-facing Peninsula neighborhoodswere deluged as well, including Somerville andEdgemere. There, low-lying land and soft soilconditions, together with already eroded

The Fires in the Rockaways

During and after Sandy, 94 storm-related fires broke out across New York City. About 80 per-cent of these fires were electrical in nature, caused by the interaction of electricity and sea-water, though some were also caused by open flames or even faulty generators. In total, thesefires destroyed over 200 homes and businesses across the five boroughs. As devastating asthey were wherever they hit, the fires were particularly disastrous across the Rockaway Penin-sula, where 175 of the destroyed homes and businesses were located.

Breezy Point A 6-alarm fire broke out in Breezy Point when seawater brought by Sandy’s surge came intocontact with the electrical system of a single-family home in the community. Fueled by Sandy’shigh winds, the fire, which firefighters were unable to reach for some time due to flooding,spread quickly in this densely packed neighborhood, ultimately destroying 126 homes anddamaging 22 more. It took 10 hours to bring the fire under control.

Belle HarborOn Beach 129th Street in Belle Harbor, a major conflagration broke out after utility wires, com-promised by the storm, came into contact with a 2-story home. The ensuing fire spread to31 additional structures, completely destroying all of them.

Rockaway Beach Boulevard On Rockaway Beach Boulevard and Beach 113th Street, utility wires came into contact witha 3-story, mixed-use building during the storm. The downed wires started a fire that eventuallyspread to 16 additional structures, destroying them all.

Fire damage in Breezy Point Credit: Kirsten Luce/The New York Times


coastal conditions, allowed Sandy to under-mine existing bulkheads, leaving homesvirtually unprotected from the storm’s waters.

Broad Channel, sitting at a low elevation in themiddle of Jamaica Bay, also suffered fromSandy’s surge, which spread large volumes ofwater throughout the neighborhood. Salt watercontaminated the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge’sWest Pond on the northern end of the island. In New Howard Beach, Old Howard Beach, andHamilton Beach, inundation similarly causedsignificant devastation. Floodwaters largely en-

tered these neighborhoods from the Bay viathe narrow creeks and basins that wind throughand among these neighborhoods.

Another way in which Sandy wreaked havoc onSouth Queens was via its winds, which spreadfires that broke out in several South Queensareas, including Breezy Point, Belle Harbor, andRockaway, spreading them, in some cases, overlarge areas. (See sidebar: The Fires in the Rockaways)

As a result of Sandy, a large number of buildings

in South Queens suffered damage. After thestorm, the New York City Department of Build-ings (DOB) sent out inspectors to assessdamages in South Queens and other inundatedareas of the City. These inspectors were askedto assign “tags” to buildings based on the observed condition of each structure. “Green”tags indicated less serious damage or no damage. “Yellow” tags indicated that portionsof a building might be unsafe or might have significant non-structural damage. “Red” tagsindicated structural damage. And a subcategory of “red” tags was further catego-rized as “destroyed”.

The most methodologically rigorous buildingdamage assessment undertaken by DOB wascompleted in December 2012. According to thisassessment, of those buildings citywide thatwere tagged, either yellow or red (includingthose further classified as destroyed), 37 percentwere located in South Queens. This was well inexcess of the percentage of all buildings in thecitywide inundation zone that were located inSouth Queens (24 percent). The yellow and redtagged buildings in South Queens tended to beclustered in Edgemere, Somerville, RockawayBeach, Rockaway Park, Belle Harbor, Neponsit,Roxbury, Breezy Point, Broad Channel and Hamilton Beach. Consistent with other ocean-facing areas of the city, in South Queens, thepercentage of red and yellow tagged buildingsthat were tagged red (59 percent) was higherthan the percentage citywide (38 percent). Thisoverrepresentation was reflective of the destruc-tive impact that powerful waves coming off ofthe ocean had on the area’s building stock.

Like residents, businesses and nonprofits inSouth Queens were hit hard by Sandy, with over2,275 businesses and nonprofits, employingnearly 15,000 people, impacted. These rangedfrom large to small.

For example, in Rockaway Beach, MadelaineChocolates was inundated completely. This re-sulted not just in the loss of inventory andvaluable equipment but also missed productionduring critical holiday seasons, from Thanksgiv-ing through Easter.

Many neighborhood retail corridors, service-providers, and beach-related concessionoperators also were devastated. This devasta-tion resulted primarily from inundation, though,in some cases, also was caused by fire. To addinsult to injury, as these businesses and non-profits began slowly to reopen after the storm,many found that they had fewer customers,owing to the large numbers of area residentswho the storm had displaced. This was eventrue in Far Rockaway, where storm damage wasless severe than elsewhere in South Queens,

Jamaica Bay

Jamaica Bay

Atlantic Ocean

DOB Tag DataDestroyedRedYellow

RockawayInlet

Location and Level of Building Damage

South Queens Citywide

41%62%

26%

33%

11%

27%Destroyed

Yellow

Red

DOB Tag Data

Level of Building Damage

Source: DOB December Tags

Source: DOB December Tags

but where, three weeks after the storm, only 40to 50 percent of area businesses had reopened.Businesses in South Queens suffered manylosses, including lost inventory, damaged inte-riors, and compromised building systems.

Yet another impact that Sandy had on the neigh-borhoods of South Queens was extensivedamage to the area’s critical infrastructure. Forexample, Cross Bay Boulevard was fully sub-merged during the storm. After the storm, thethoroughfare was littered not just with dam-aged cars and trucks but also with boats thatSandy’s surge had deposited well inland.

Mass transit serving South Queens also was sig-nificantly impaired by Sandy. For example,portions of the A train rail connection betweenHoward Beach and the Rockaway Peninsula werewashed away, leaving 35,000 daily riders withouta direct rail link to Queens, Brooklyn, and Man-hattan. Subway tracks south of Howard Beachwere also inundated with up to ten feet of water,washing these tracks out in many places and, intwo locations, washing out the land on which thetracks ran. Other railroad equipment was seri-ously damaged or destroyed, includingimportant signal systems. Though the MTA wasable to put shuttle bus and train service in placein the interim, full service along the A line was notrestored for some seven months, significantly in-creasing commuting times for those whonormally relied on the subway.


Rockaway Boardwalk

Track damage on the A Line

Credit: Chang W. Lee/The New York Times

Credit: MTA/NYCT

Although many parts of the city were affectedby power outages, few were as significantlyimpacted as the neighborhoods of SouthQueens. Not only did the entire area losepower—caused by damage to substations,power lines, and customer equipment—but,in many cases, these power outages lastedlonger than anywhere else in the city. To un-derstand why this occurred, it is first neces-sary to understand how power is supplied tothe area.

In the Rockaways, the Long Island Power Au-thority (LIPA), a public authority controlled byNew York State, is responsible for deliveringelectric power. Meanwhile, as is the case inthe rest of the city, Con Edison, a private utilitycompany, is responsible for providing electricpower to Broad Channel, New Howard Beach,Old Howard Beach, and Hamilton Beach.

During Sandy, all four LIPA substations servingthe Rockaway Peninsula were knocked out ofservice by floodwaters, resulting in wide-spread power failures, impacting some34,000 customers. Because of the extent of

the damage to its system, after Sandy, LIPAwas unable to reenergize its grid for some 11days. Thereafter, LIPA was able to restorepower relatively quickly to approximately10,000 customers, predominantly in portionsof Far Rockaway that did not suffer extensiveflood damage. However, for the majority ofareas that experienced significant flooding,and resulting physical damage to buildings,for safety reasons, it was necessary to repairthis damage before power could be restored.As a result, around 24,000 customers re-mained without power returning one by oneover months until each building received certified inspections or repairs to their equipment.

In Con Edison’s territory, meanwhile, poweroutages were also extensive, impacting ap-proximately 2,800 customers in New HowardBeach, Old Howard Beach, and HamiltonBeach and 950 customers in Broad Channel.This was, in large part, due to flooding, which,in turn, made it unsafe to restore electric serv-ice to customers until their in-building equip-ment could be inspected and, if damaged,

repaired. According to Con Edison, eight daysafter Sandy’s departure, half of the customersin New Howard Beach, Hamilton Beach, andBroad Channel had had their power restored,with about a quarter of customers restored inOld Howard Beach. The City’s groundbreak-ing Rapid Repairs program dramatically accel-erated the pace of power restoration in SouthQueens and other impacted areas, by dis-patching contractors and skilled constructionworkers to make emergency repairs on resi-dential properties affected by Sandy. In total,as of the writing of this report, Rapid Repairshas assisted more than 20,000 families – in-cluding thousands in South Queens.

Overall, extended power outages createdhardships for many in South Queens, includ-ing the elderly and disabled. This was espe-cially true for those living in multi-storyfacilities that had lost critical building sys-tems, as occurred at numerous Mitchell-Lamadevelopments, NYCHA developments, nurs-ing homes, and adult care facilities.

Power Outages in South Queens


To address the transit challenges posed by theclosure of the A train, in November 2012, theCity launched temporary ferry service betweenthe Rockaways and Manhattan. Paid for in partwith Federal money and using a landing siteprovided by National Grid, the service cost rid-ers $2 per trip.

Another important piece of infrastructure inSouth Queens impacted by Sandy was theRockaway Wastewater Treatment Plant. This fa-cility suffered severe flooding and was out ofservice during the storm, leaving wastewateruntreated for three days, although chlorine wasapplied to untreated effluent. Notwithstandingthese releases, water quality samples taken byDEP following the storm showed minimal waterquality impacts, due in part to dilution of efflu-ent that resulted from the high volumes ofwater that Sandy brought with it. The RockawayWastewater Treatment Plant finally regained fulltreatment capacity approximately two weeksafter the storm.

Sandy caused significant erosion along thebeaches of South Queens. In fact, the USACEestimated that Rockaway Beach alone lost 1.5million cubic yards of sand, much of it pushedup into neighborhood streets or washed intothe Atlantic. Segments of the area’s boardwalkwere also destroyed, although the portionsbuilt of concrete tended to emerge unscathedor to sustain only minor to moderate damage.

Schools in the area were also damaged. In total,37 schools in South Queens were closed for upto two months. Until repairs could be com-pleted. Students at these schools wererelocated to school facilities that had not beendamaged to ensure that instructional disrup-tion was kept to a minimum.

As significant as Sandy’s impacts were on themany neighborhoods of South Queens, they alsoinspired acts of heroism. These efforts rangedfrom the relief operations undertaken by commu-nity-based organizations, other non-profits, localresidents, and outside volunteers. The outpour-ing of financial and on-the-ground support helpedmany to begin addressing the damage done totheir homes, supported efforts to clean up thearea and assisted residents who were displacedor remained in the area but whose access togoods and services were impaired. In fact, theexperience of Sandy inspired 40 local organiza-tions to form a new coalition called RockawayUnited. This group was established to coordinateservices post-Sandy more effectively and to putmechanisms in place for future disasters. Effortssuch as these were, in many ways, the silver lin-ings that emerged from an otherwise gravesituation, providing a ray of hope that, out of thetragedy of Sandy, the neighborhoods of SouthQueens will emerge with strengthened commu-nity networks that will be critical to resiliency inthe future.

What Could Happen in the Future

Going forward, the neighborhoods of SouthQueens face a variety of risks relating to climatechange. (See chart: Risk Assessment: Impactof Climate Change)

Major RisksGiven the area’s coastal exposure, the most sig-nificant climate change-related risk posed tothe neighborhoods of South Queens is floodingfrom coastal storms, which is likely to be exac-erbated by projected sea level rise. This risk issignificant even today, as illustrated by recently

Jamaica Bay

Jamaica Bay

Atlantic Ocean

1983 FIRMs 100-Year Floodplain

2013 PWMs 100-Year Floodplain

Overlap

RockawayInlet

Comparison of 1983 FIRMs and Preliminary Work Maps

Restoration of the Rockaways Beachfront

Following Sandy, a top priority for the City was the reopening of the beaches of the RockawayPeninsula in time for the summer of 2013. To this end, the Department of Parks and Recreation(DPR) repaired portions of the boardwalk that had sustained only minor or moderate damage topre-Sandy designs, repaired and replaced damaged lifeguard stations and restrooms, and cre-ated resilient “boardwalk islands” in several compromised locations to provide access to beachfacilities and amenities. Looking to the future, DPR intends not only to restore the boardwalk infull but also to continue to support beach restoration projects that will protect the neighbor-hoods that it fronts. DPR also is prioritizing opportunities for beach-fueled economic develop-ment in both the near- and long-terms that could contribute to the wider recovery of theRockaway Peninsula, South Queens, and the city as a whole (See South Queens Initiatives 7 & 8).

Rockaway Beach, 1902

1983 FIRMs 100-Year Floodplain


Overlap

R

Source: FEMA


released Preliminary Work Maps (PWMs) fromthe Federal Emergency Management Agency(FEMA). According to these maps, the 100-yearfloodplain—the area with a 1 percent orgreater chance of flooding in any given year—has expanded in the borough of Queens by 40percent over that shown on the 1983 FEMAmaps that were in effect when Sandy hit. In thenew maps, the growth in the floodplain is pro-found for South Queens—with the exception ofisolated sections of Far Rockaway, virtually theentirety of the South Queens area now lieswithin the 100-year floodplain. Additionally,portions of Broad Channel, Roxbury andBayswater are now within a V Zone, which is acoastal area at risk of storm waves of three feetor more. In some limited instances zones en-croach on residential property. (See Chapter 2,Climate Analysis; see map: Comparison of 1983FIRMs and Preliminary Work Maps)

As the 100-year floodplain has expanded insize, there has also been an increase in thenumber of buildings in the floodplain—an in-crease of over 70 percent (from just over11,000 to more than 19,000 buildings). BaseFlood Elevations—the elevation to which flood-waters could rise during a storm—haveincreased 1 to 4 feet throughout the area. According to projections from the New York City

Panel on Climate Change (NPCC), described inChapter 2 (Climate Analysis), sea levels are fore-cast to rise through the 2020s and 2050s.Though already in the 100-year floodplain, manyneighborhoods in South Queens will experiencemore frequent flooding and even greater floodheights. (See map: Comparison of PreliminaryWork Maps and Future Floodplains)

Although most of South Queens is already inthe 100-year floodplain, flooding in these neigh-borhoods are likely to be at a greater heightand occur more frequently. (See table: Buildingsin the Floodplain)

Other RisksThough coastal inundation poses the greatestthreat to the neighborhoods along the water-front, these areas face other climate risks, aswell. Sea level rise, for example, even withoutextreme weather events like hurricanes, could,in some communities, lead to increased fre-quency and severity of street and basementflooding on a chronic basis by the 2050s. Thisrisk, which already exists in areas like Edge-mere, Broad Channel, Howard Beach andHamilton Beach, is expected to impact as muchas 12 miles of shoreline in the decades to come.(See map: Sea Level Rise Analysis in HowardBeach and Hamilton Beach)

Scale of Impact

HAZARD Today 2020s 2050s Comments

GRADUAL

Sea level riseSome bay-facing, low-lying areas already experience regular tidal flooding; sea level rise likely would result in increases in localized flooding

Increased precipitation

Minimal impact

Higher average temperature

Minimal impact

EXTREME EVENTS

Storm surgeSignificant risk of both flooding and wave action, as evidenced by Sandy; risk likely would grow asV Zone expands; increased storm frequency would leave less time to restore coastal protections

Heavy downpour May exceed capacity of sewer systems more frequently, resulting in localized flooding

Heat waveGreater strain on power system with potential for more failures; most significant impact on high-rise buildings

High winds Overhead power lines are at risk of failure

Risk Assessment: Impact of Climate Change Major Risk Moderate Risk Minor Risk

Buildings & Units100-Year Floodplain

1983FIRMs

2013PWMs

Projected 2020s

Projected 2050s

Residential Buildings 10,810 18,790 20,030 20,560

Residential Units 25,400 42,600 45,000 46,500

Commercial andOther Buildings

350 640 690 700

Buildings in the Floodplain

Source: DCP PLUTO, FEMA


Increased precipitation and more frequent andheavier downpours also could overwhelmsewer systems going forward, resulting in moreflooding. Based on current forecasts, however,this risk is likely to be fairly localized.

While future projections for changes in windspeeds are not available from the NPCC, agreater frequency of intense coastal storms bythe 2050s could present a greater risk of highwinds in the New York area. This could cause is-sues for materials that are exposed and forbuildings built before modern building codes—of which South Queens has many.

High Tide Flood Risk, 2020 High Tide Flood Risk, 2050

¯

Sea Level Rise Analysis in Howard Beach and Hamilton Beach

Jamaica Bay

Jamaica Bay

Atlantic Ocean


Projected 2020s 100-Year Floodplain

Projected 2050s 100-year-Floodplain

RockawayInlet

Comparison of Preliminary Work Maps and Future Floodplain


Projected 2020s 100-Year Floodplain

Projected 2050s 100-year-Floodplain

R

Source: FEMA, CUNY Institute for Sustainable Cities


Since the Special Initiative for Rebuilding andResiliency (SIRR) was launched in December2012, the input of local stakeholders has helpedshape an understanding of what happened dur-ing Sandy, what risks South Queens faces in re-lation to climate change and what approachesmake sense to address these risks.

South Queens is represented by a wide array ofelected officials at the Federal, State, and locallevels. It is also represented by two communityboards. The area is further served by a largenumber of community-based organizations,civic groups, faith-based organizations, andother neighborhood stakeholders. All playedan important role in relief and recovery effortsafter Sandy. Throughout the process of devel-oping this plan, SIRR staff benefited from nu-merous conversations—both formal andinformal—with these groups and individuals, in-cluding, in South Queens, two task forces thatmet regularly.

SIRR also held three public workshops in Marchof 2013 in South Queens, part of a series ofsuch workshops held citywide in which over1,000 New Yorkers participated to discuss is-sues affecting their neighborhoods and com-municate their priorities for the future of theirhomes and communities. Generally, the on-the-ground insights provided at these public work-shops helped SIRR staff to develop a deeperunderstanding of the specific priorities of, andchallenges facing the communities of SouthQueens.

Overall, out of the various task force and othermeetings and public workshops attended bySIRR staff since January, several priorities forSIRR clearly emerged:• Providing coastal protection measures on theocean and bay;

• Clarifying available resources to retrofit, re-pair, and rebuild homes;

• Addressing concern over future flood insur-ance rates;

• Providing support to small businesses; • Expanding transit options; and• Creating jobs and access to job training andeducational opportunities for local commu-nity members.

Priorities from Public Engagement in South Queens

South Queens community outreach workshop

South Queens community outreach workshop

Task Force Briefing Frequency# of Stakeholders from South Queens

Elected officials Monthly• ~14 City, State, Federal elected officials

Community-basedorganizations

4 – 6 weeks• 2 community boards• 55+ faith-based, business, and community organizations


INITIATIVES FOR INCREASING RESILIENCY IN SOUTH QUEENS

South Queens Community Rebuilding and Resiliency Plan

South Queens is a section of New York City withscenic vistas and a relaxed pace, a rare find forurban New Yorkers. The area is characterizedby tight-knit communities and rich natural andrecreational assets, which include miles of openbeaches and the majestic waters of Jamaica Bay.

The following is a multilayered plan that notonly applies citywide strategies to SouthQueens, but also provides strategies designedto address the area’s specific needs and partic-ular vulnerabilities. In anticipation of future climate change-related risks, this plan proposesways that South Queens neighborhoods canadapt by: addressing wave action and inunda-tion along the entire coastline and within Jamaica Bay; providing opportunities to retrofitthe area’s most vulnerable building stock; protecting and improving critical infrastructure;and focusing investments in strategic areas,such as the beachfront, to advance a long-termand sustainable recovery.

Coastal Protection

As Sandy illustrated, the greatest extremeweather-related risk faced by New York City isstorm surge, the effects of which are likely toincrease given current projections of sea levelrise. Going forward, it is anticipated that climatechange will render coastal regions of the city,including South Queens, even more vulnerableto these risks.

While it is impossible to eliminate the chance offlooding in coastal areas, the City will seek to re-duce its frequency and effects—mitigating theimpacts of sea level rise, storm waves includingerosion, and inundation on the coastline of thecity generally and South Queens in particular.Among the strategies that the City will use toachieve these goals will be the following: increas-ing coastal edge elevations; minimizing uplandwave zones; protecting against storm surge; andimproving coastal design and governance.

In the development of cost-effective coastalprotections measures that fit these strategies,a range of considerations, particularly the area’sexposure to coastal risks, its geomorphology,and land use, must be taken into account.Other considerations, such as impacts to water-front access, water quality and the environ-ment, navigation, and neighborhood characterand quality of life for residents and businesses,will be evaluated, where appropriate. For a fullexplanation of the following initiatives and acomplete description of the City’s comprehen-

sive coastal protection plan, please refer toChapter 3 (Coastal Protection).

The initiatives described below provide impor-tant examples of how the City intends to ad-vance its coastal protection agenda citywide.These initiatives will have a significant impacton the residents, businesses, and nonprofits of South Queens. Taken together, when com-pleted, the first seven coastal protection initia-tives described below, would provide enhancedprotection for nearly 18,000 buildings in SouthQueens, representing around 35,000 housingunits as well as many businesses and much ofthe critical infrastructure.

Coastal Protection Initiative 2Call on and work with the USACE to complete emergency beach nourishmenton the Rockaway Peninsula

Beach replenishment in the Rockaways was sus-pended in 2004, and in the intervening yearsthey have continued to erode. This erosion,coupled with the 1.5 million cubic yards of sandlost during Sandy, has created a breach thatthreatens adjacent neighborhoods. The City,therefore, will support emergency beach nour-ishment work from Beach 19th Street to Beach149th Street. The initiative will replace approx-imately 3.6 million cubic yards of sand. Thisproject is expected to start in July 2013, withcompletion targeted for December 2013. Aspart of this initiative, the City will continue towork with the USACE will develop a plan for ongoing beach maintenance so that future extreme weather events can be followedquickly by restoration of lost sand.

Coastal Protection Initiative 6Raise bulkheads in low-lying neighbor-hoods to minimize inland tidal flooding

Bulkheads provide the first line of defenseagainst flooding in many South Queens neighborhoods, including Old Howard Beach,Hamilton Beach, Broad Channel and Edgemere,but throughout the city, many bulkheads arebuilt to an elevation that may be insufficientgiven the latest projections of sea level rise by2050. Subject to available funding, the City,therefore, will launch a program to raise bulk-heads and other shoreline structures across thefive boroughs in low-lying areas most at risk ofdaily or weekly tidal flooding, a phenomenonthat could impact as much as 12 miles of shore-line by the 2050s. The Mayor's Office of LongTerm Planning and Sustainability (OLTPS) will work with the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) to managethis program, to begin implementation in 2013,in conjunction with the new citywide waterfrontinspections program described in Chapter 3.

This chapter contains a series of initiatives thatare designed to mitigate the impacts of climatechange on South Queens. In many cases, theseinitiatives are both ready to proceed and haveidentified funding sources assigned to cover theircosts. With respect to these initiatives, the Cityintends to proceed with them as quickly as prac-ticable, upon the receipt of identified funding.

Meanwhile, in the case of certain other initia-tives described in this chapter, though theseinitiatives may be ready to proceed, they stilldo not have specific sources of funding as-signed to them. In Chapter 19 (Funding), theCity describes additional funding sources,which, if secured, would be sufficient to fundthe full first phase of projects and programs de-scribed in this document over a 10-year period.The City will work aggressively on securing thisfunding and any necessary third-party ap-provals required in connection therewith (i.e.,from the Federal or State governments). How-ever, until such time as these sources are se-cured, the City will only proceed with thoseinitiatives for which it has adequate funding.


Coastal Protection Initiative 8Complete bulkhead repairs and roadway drainage improvements adjacent to Beach Channel Drive on the Rockaway Peninsula

Belle Harbor is lined by about two miles of City-owned seawall on its bay side. This floodwall,however, is in deteriorated condition that couldallow surge waters to inundate the neighbor-hood during extreme weather events. Comple-menting the bulkhead work described above (seeCoastal Protection Initiative 6), the City, throughNYCEDC, therefore will continue its ongoing workto restore segments of the floodwall that are inpoor condition. NYCEDC recently completed thefirst of three segments between Beach 125thand Beach 130th Streets, and will restore the re-maining sections by early 2014. The City also willequip a portion of the roadway drainage networkfrom approximately Beach 116th Street to Beach143rd Streets with new duckbill tide gates, orvalves that block waters from entering pipesfrom the drainage end, while still allowingstormwater to drain out. This work will make useof existing funding and provide protection concurrent with and subsequent to the upcom-ing hurricane season. After work is completed,the City will evaluate the elevation of the flood-wall generally and whether changes to this elevation should be made over time.

Coastal Protection Initiative 11Call on and work with the USACE to complete existing studies of the Rockaway Peninsula and implementcoastal protection projects

The entire Rockaway peninsula faces continuedrisk of flood and wave action. The City will,therefore, call on the USACE to complete theRockaway reformulation study started in 2003.This authorized study offers an expedited pathto rethink and improve the current flood protec-tions on the Rockaway Peninsula. DPR will en-sure that this work makes effective use ofexisting Federal appropriations to advancemeaningful flood protection projects. It is expected that the reformulation study will becompleted by 2015. Consistent with this study,the City also will call upon the USACE to imple-ment further beach nourishment and dune construction projects in the area, and workingwith DPR to complement its future boardwalkrestoration plans.

DPR also will work with the USACE to determinethe feasibility and effectiveness of expanding orstrengthening the existing groin fields on theRockaway peninsula. In the interim, DPR willcomplete short-term dune improvements onthe Rockaway peninsula from Beach 9th Street

to Beach 149th Street, using low-cost and read-ily available solutions to mitigate the effects of storm waves on adjacent neighborhoodsduring this year’s hurricane season.

Coastal Protection Initiative 12Call on and work with the USACE to study primary and secondary dune systems in vulnerable Rockaway Peninsula neighborhoods and install such a system in Breezy Point

Neighborhoods such as Breezy Point suffereddevastating damage from Sandy and are likely tobecome more exposed to extreme weatherevents as the climate changes. This vulnerabilityis particularly great on the ocean-facing side ofBreezy Point, where wave action during extremeweather events brings not just inundation, butdestructive force, as well. Subject to availablefunding, the City, working through OLTPS, there-fore, will call on and work with the USACE tostudy and construct a project to protect thisneighborhood first on its ocean-facing side. TheCity believes that such protection should takethe form of a primary and secondary dune system, which not only will protect residents andtheir property but also will demonstrate theviability of these systems. It should be notedthat, to obtain federal funding for these or otherprotective measures, the Breezy Point Coopera-tive, which is the owner of the oceanfront prop-erty in the area, will likely be required to providepublic access to the community’s beaches. Thegoal is that, following the completion of theUSACE study, the resulting project would beimplemented within four years.

Coastal Protection Initiative 14Call on and work with the USACE to study and install wetlands for wave attenuation in Howard Beach and tostudy further flood-protection improvements within Jamaica Bay

Howard Beach and Hamilton Beach, twoQueens communities along the northern coastline of Jamaica Bay, are highly exposed,low-lying neighborhoods. To address this vulner-ability, subject to available funding, the City willcall on the USACE to study and implement awetlands restoration project designed to atten-uate waves. This project will build upon the existing work contained in the Hudson-RaritanEstuary Comprehensive Restoration Plan andwill leverage planning work done by the NatureConservancy. This project will not only protect the two aforementioned neighborhoods, butalso will allow the effectiveness of such wetlandrestorations to be tested. DPR will oversee theseefforts. Following a USACE study, this projectshould, be implemented within four years.

The City also will call upon the USACE, simulta-neous with the Howard Beach-Hamilton Beachwetlands restoration, to restart existing studiesof the Rockaway Peninsula and of Jamaica Bay.These authorized studies offer an expeditedpath to project completion. Following comple-tion of these studies, the USACE should, subjectto available funding, implement coastal protec-tion projects recommended by the studies to provide flood protection and reconstitutesome of the city’s most important historic

Wetlands Restoration Project, Jamaica Bay

Credit: Courtesy of US Army Corps of Engineers/Great Lakes Dredge & Dock, LCC: Stefan Turner Aerial Photography



protective wetlands and marsh islands. DPR willensure that these projects make effective useof existing Federal appropriations. If restartednow, these studies should be completed by2016. Improvements of bulkheads in low-lyingneighborhoods, and implementation of a localstorm surge barrier for Rockaway Inlet.

Coastal Protection Initiative 17Complete living shorelines and floatingbreakwaters for wave attenuation inBrant Point, Queens

The Brant Point Wildlife Sanctuary is a low-lyingnatural area that, even today, is vulnerable tothe potential impacts of extreme weatherevents. This threatens the Wildlife Sanctuaryand the neighborhoods that it fronts. This vul-nerability, moreover, is expected to grow as theclimate changes. Therefore, the City, workingthrough the Department of Environmental Pro-tection (DEP) and subject to available funding,will construct and monitor new living shorelinesand floating breakwaters in this area. These improvements not only will protect the WildlifeSanctuary and the residents of the communi-ties abutting the Sanctuary but also will demon-strate the viability of these protection systems,especially in areas with existing wetlands andmarsh islands. If effective, living shoreline andfloating breakwater projects could be repli-cated elsewhere in the city. The goal is that theproject would be implemented during 2014.

Beyond the priority coastal protection projectsdescribed in Chapter 3, including those summa-rized briefly above, the City is proposing addi-tional coastal protection initiatives specific toSouth Queens’s vulnerabilities. These initiativesare described below.

– – –

South Queens Initiative 1Call for USACE to develop an implementation plan to mitigate inundation risks through Rockaway Inlet, exploring a surge barrier and alternative measures

Much of the flood damage from Sandy in theneighborhoods of Brooklyn and Queens thatface Jamaica Bay came from water that flowedthrough Rockaway Inlet into the Bay. The exten-sive shoreline that surrounds Jamaica Bay sup-ports a variety of land uses and densities, all of which are at risk of flooding. Because floodprotection along the existing shoreline of Jamaica Bay would be extremely expensive,and disruptive, and in some cases nearly impos-sible, the City will call on and work with theUSACE to develop an implementation plan fora local storm surge barrier to be constructed

across Rockaway Inlet approximately betweenManhattan Beach in Brooklyn and Breezy Pointin Queens. A Rockaway Inlet local storm surge barrier at this location could protect against sig-nificant inland flooding and wave risk in neigh-borhoods from Sheepshead Bay to HowardBeach, as well as JFK Airport, Broad Channel,and the entire bayside of the Rockaway penin-sula (provided that the barrier was completedin conjunction with dune enhancements alongthe oceanside of the Rockaway peninsula andmitigation measures along Coney Island Creek).This project, in turn, would obviate the need forextensive localized coastal protections spreadaround the shoreline of the Bay. A preliminaryfeasibility assessment, to be performed byOLTPS in coordination with DEP, would examineimpacts on water quality, habitat, hydrodynam-ics, and navigation, and would identify potentialsecondary coastline reinforcements.

The goal is for USACE to begin work on thisplan as part of its comprehensive study of floodrisk reduction in New York City, based on therecommendations of this report.

South Queens Initiative 2Develop an implementation plan to address frequent tidal inundation inBroad Channel and Hamilton Beach, incorporating international best practices

Already experiencing more frequent tidal flood-ing (even without extreme weather events) thanother neighborhoods in South Queens, BroadChannel and Hamilton Beach face acute riskfrom projected sea level rise as described inChapter 2 (Climate Change). To address this risk,the City, working through OLTPS and NYCEDCand subject to available funding, will developcost-effective protection and adaptation strate-gies to address the vulnerability of buildings,land, and critical infrastructure in these commu-nities in a manner that also addresses neighbor-hood character. Prior to launching the plan, theCity will issue a Request for Qualifications for atechnical support team of experts, including ar-chitects, engineers, urban and landscape de-signers, scientists and others who haveinternational experience working in areas vulner-able to comparable flood risks and have experi-ence generating innovative solutions. Theseexperts will be tasked by the City with develop-ing viable designs to address the challenges inthese communities. The goal is to launch theplanning process in 2013.

Simultaneously with launching this initiative, theCity also will evaluate the flood protection im-pact of a joint DEP/Department of Transportation(NYCDOT) project on Broad Channel that is slatedto commence by 2014. The project involvesthree local roadways and includes raising these

roadways 3 feet, upgrading drainage systems,and installing bulkheads. If effective, the projectcould be replicated in other vulnerable areas ofJamaica Bay.

South Queens Initiative 3Complete short-term dune improvementson the Rockaway Peninsula

In the event of a storm, the entire RockawayPeninsula—without additional protection—is vulnerable to storm surge and flooding. Whileawaiting the completion of the Rockaway Refor-mulation Study described above (see Coastal Pro-tection Initiative 11), the City will, through DPR,will complete short-term dune improvements onthe Peninsula from Beach 9th Street to Beach149th Street. These improvements will utilizelow-cost solutions to mitigate the effects of ex-treme weather events on adjacent neighbor-hoods during the upcoming hurricane season.

Buildings

The city’s buildings give physical form to NewYork. As Sandy demonstrated, however, thebuilding stock citywide, including in SouthQueens, is highly vulnerable to extreme weatherevents—a vulnerability that is expected to increase in the future. While the coastal protec-tion measures outlined above are designed toreduce the effects of sea level rise, storm surge,and wave action on the city and South Queens,these measures will not completely eliminatethose risks. They also will take time to design,fund, and build. It is equally important, there-fore, to supplement these measures by pursu-ing resiliency at the building level.

To achieve building-level resiliency, the City willseek to protect structures in South Queens andthroughout the five boroughs against a spec-trum of climate risks, including not only floodingbut also high winds and other extreme events.Among the strategies that the City will use toachieve these goals will be to construct newbuildings to the highest resiliency standards andretrofit as many existing buildings as possible sothat they will be significantly better prepared tohandle the impacts of extreme weather events.The initiatives described below provide impor-tant examples of how the City intends to advance building resiliency citywide. Theseinitiatives will have a positive impact on the res-idents, businesses, and nonprofits of SouthQueens. For a full explanation of the followinginitiatives and a complete description of theCity’s five-borough building resiliency plan,please refer to Chapter 4 (Buildings).


Buildings Initiative 1Improve regulations for flood resiliencyof new and substantially improved buildings in the 100-year floodplain

Though buildings constructed to modern Con-struction Codes generally performed well duringSandy, given the increasing risk of flooding thatis likely with climate change, modifications arewarranted. The City, therefore, will seek toamend the Construction Codes, and Zoning Res-olution to provide for strengthened require-ments that will, among other things, improve thedesign of new buildings through the applicationof appropriate resiliency measures that are cali-brated to the best floodplain data available overtime and provide that critical building systemsare better-protected from flood risks. In 2013,the City, through the OLTPS, will seek to imple-ment these code changes and the Departmentof City Planning (DCP) will continue to take zon-ing changes through the public review process,with the goal of adoption before the end of theyear. If adopted, they will improve resiliency fordevelopments throughout South Queens.

Buildings Initiative 2Rebuild and repair housing units destroyed and substantially damaged by Sandy

Roughly 23,000 private residential buildings encompassing nearly 70,000 housing unitswere damaged or destroyed during Sandy. Subject to available funding, the City, therefore,through the Mayor’s Office of Housing RecoveryOperations (HRO), will provide financial andother assistance to owners of residential prop-erties that were destroyed or substantiallydamaged during Sandy, including to approxi-mately 7,000 residential buildings encompass-ing approximately 8,000 housing units in SouthQueens. This program will help homes to berebuilt or repaired to the highest resiliency stan-dards based on the best floodplain data avail-able over time. In limited circumstances, theCity will explore acquisition of homes that weredestroyed or damaged with the goal of subse-quently disposing of such sites for redevelop-ment consistent with zoning. Additionally, the City is seeking to incorporate resiliencymeasures into approximately 500–600 multi-family properties that sustained minor damageincluding many publicly assisted buildings prop-erties such as those developed pursuant to theMitchell-Lama program and other affordablehousing. The City, therefore, will support theretrofit of these publicly-assisted buildings,such as those developed pursuant to Mitchell-Lama and other affordable housing programs.

Buildings Initiative 3Study and implement zoning changes to encourage retrofits of existing buildingsand construction of new resilient buildings in the 100-year floodplain

The City, through DCP, will undertake a series ofcitywide and neighborhood-specific land usestudies to address key planning issues in se-verely affected and vulnerable communities. Aspart of these studies, the City will identify waysto facilitate the voluntary construction of new,more resilient building stock, and to encouragevoluntary retrofits of existing vulnerable build-ings over time. To be undertaken in close con-sultation with local residents, elected officials,and other community stakeholders, these landuse studies will focus on the challenges posedby flood exposure of the applicable neighbor-hoods; the vulnerability of the building typesthat are found in these neighborhoods (e.g.,older, one-story bungalows); and site condi-tions in these areas (e.g. narrow lots andstreets) in Hamilton Beach that can make eleva-tion or retrofit of vulnerable buildings expensiveor complicated.

In South Queens, DCP will examine neighbor-hoods including Old Howard Beach, HamiltonBeach and Broad Channel, exploring zoning andother land use changes that, in the future, couldencourage residents, if they so choose, to makechanges with respect to existing homes or buildnew homes that would result in significantlygreater resiliency. Subject to available funding,the goal is for DCP to commence this study in 2013. Thereafter, DCP would move to imple-ment changes, if any, that it deems to be appro-priate, based on the results of its study.

Buildings Initiative 4Launch a competition to encourage development of new, cost-effective housing types to replace vulnerable stock

Subject to available funding, the City, throughthe Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), will launch an internationalResilient Housing Design Competition. This competition will offer prizes to private-sectordevelopers who design and develop new, high-quality housing prototypes that offer owners ofvulnerable building types (e.g., older, one-storybungalows), a cost-effective path that is consis-tent with city building and zoning requirementsto replacing these structures with structuresthat meet the highest resiliency standards. Inaddition to cash prizes, the winners of this competition will be given the opportunity to put these structures into service in connectionwith a City-sponsored development project. Prototypes will have applicability throughout the

five boroughs, including in sections of SouthQueens such as Broad Channel and HamiltonBeach and other vulnerable bungalow commu-nities. The goal is for HPD to launch this compe-tition in 2013.

Buildings Initiative 5Work with New York State to identify eligible communities for the New YorkSmart Home Buyout Program

The City will evaluate opportunities for collab-oration with the State in connection with itshome buyout program, using an objective setof criteria developed by the City, including extreme vulnerability, consensus among a crit-ical mass of contiguous local residents, andother relevant factors. It is anticipated thatthese criteria will be met in a limited number ofareas citywide. As of the writing of this report,no areas have been identified for this programin South Queens.

Buildings Initiative 6Amend the Building Code and complete studies to strengthen wind resiliency for new and substantiallyimproved buildings

As noted above, buildings constructed to mod-ern Building Code standards generally per-formed well during Sandy. Sandy, however,brought relatively weak winds, compared toother hurricanes. Given the possibility of morefrequent or intense wind events in the future,modifications to the Building Code are war-ranted. The City, therefore, through DOB will seekto amend the Building Code to provide forstrengthened requirements so that new build-ings citywide can meet enhanced standards forwind resiliency. The City will further studywhether additional wind resiliency standardsshould be required going forward. The amend-ments will be submitted to the City Council foradoption, and the study will commence, in 2013.

Buildings Initiative 7Encourage existing buildings in the 100-year floodplain to adopt floodresiliency measures through an incentiveprogram and targeted mandate

Even if every structure destroyed or damagedby Sandy were rebuilt to the highest resiliencystandards, this would still leave tens of thou-sands of existing structures in the 100-yearfloodplain vulnerable—with more becoming vul-nerable as the climate changes. Subject to avail-able funding, the City, therefore, will launch a$1.2 billion program to provide incentives toowners of existing buildings in the 100-yearfloodplain to encourage them to make resiliencyinvestments in those buildings. Of the up to $1.2



billion available through the program, the Citywill reserve up to $100 million for 1- to 3-familyhomes, up to $500 million for distribution acrossthe five boroughs based on each borough'sshare of vulnerable buildings, citywide, up to $90 million for small businesses, and $100 millionfor affordable housing developments. The Cityalso will mandate that large buildings (i.e., thosewith seven or more stories that are more than300,000 square feet in size) undertake certainflood resiliency investments by 2030. If the Cityconsistently achieves its stated goal of encour-aging significant resiliency retrofit investmentsfor the vast majority of the built floor area in the100-year floodplain in the five boroughs, as many as 13,500 buildings in South Queens, encompassing over 25,000 housing units and over40 million square feet of built space would, overtime, be made meaningfully less vulnerable. Thegoal would be to launch these programs in 2013.

Buildings Initiative 8Establish Community Design Centers to assist property owners in developingdesign solutions for reconstruction andretrofitting and connect them to available City programs

The City, through HRO will establish CommunityDesign Centers in neighborhoods affected bySandy, potentially including South Queens, to as-sist property owners in developing design solu-tions for reconstruction and retrofitting, andconnect them to available City programs. TheCenters would be managed by the City—throughagencies such as HRO, HPD, DOB, DCP, andNYCEDC—with support from local partners.

Buildings Initiative 9Retrofit public housing units damaged by Sandy and increase future resiliencyof public housing

During Sandy, public housing developmentsowned and operated by NYCHA suffered signif-icant damage throughout the city. Still morewere not impacted by Sandy but remain vulner-able to extreme weather, with even more likelyto become vulnerable as the climate changes.The City, therefore, through NYCHA, will repairpublic housing developments across the Citythat were damaged by Sandy, incorporatingnew flood resiliency measures. In South Queens,59 buildings containing over 4,000 units will berepaired incorporating resiliency investments.

Buildings Initiative 10Launch a sales tax abatement program forflood resiliency in industrial buildings

As Sandy demonstrated, many industrial build-ings are vulnerable to extreme weather, withmore likely to become vulnerable as the climate

changes. However, many industrial buildingsoperate on thin margins, making it challengingto invest in resiliency. The City, through the NewYork City Industrial Development Agency (NYCIDA), therefore, will launch a $10 millionprogram to provide incentives to owners of industrial buildings to encourage them to makeresiliency investments in those buildings. Theprogram will prioritize 1- to 2- story buildingwith more than 4 feet between their actualground elevation and the applicable Base FloodElevation (BFE). In South Queens, 16 industrialbuildings with over 300,000 square feet of floorarea will be eligible for this program. This program will be launched in 2013.

Buildings Initiative 11Launch a competition to increase floodresiliency in building systems

Many existing strategies for improving resiliencyin buildings are either imperfect, expensive, ora combination of both. The City, throughNYCEDC, therefore, will launch an approxi-mately $40 million Resiliency TechnologiesCompetition using allocated Community Devel-opment Block Grant (CDBG) funding to encour-age the development, deployment, and testingof new resiliency technologies for building sys-tems. In South Queens, 19,400 buildings will beeligible to benefit from this competition. Theprogram will be launched in 2013.

Buildings Initiative 12Clarify regulations relating to the retrofit of landmarked structures in the 100-year floodplain

The City, through the Landmarks PreservationCommission, will clarify the Commission’s regu-lations to assist owners of landmarked buildingsand properties in landmarked districts in the 100-year floodplain who are contemplating retrofitprojects. In South Queens, there is one land-marked building in the floodplain. The Commis-sion will issue its clarifying regulations in 2013.

Buildings Initiative 13Amend the building code to improvewind resiliency for existing buildings andcomplete studies of potential retrofit

As noted above, given the possibility for morefrequent intense wind events in the future,modifications to the Building Code are war-ranted. The City, therefore, through OLTPS, willseek to amend the Building Code and expandthe existing DOB Façade Inspection Safety Pro-gram for high-rise buildings to include rooftopstructures and equipment. The City will furtherstudy whether additional wind resiliency stan-dards are required going forward. Theseamendments will be submitted to the City

Council for adoption and the study will commence in 2013.

Beyond the priority building resiliency projectsdescribed in Chapter 4, including those summarized briefly above, the City is proposingan additional building resiliency initiative specific to South Queens’ vulnerabilities. Thisinitiative is described below.

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South Queens Initiative 4Complete design competition to enhance resiliency of planned Arverne East Project

The Arverne East Urban Renewal Area in theArverne section of the Rockaway Peninsula wasplanned for approximately 1,700 housing units,500,000 square feet of retail and commercialspace, together with a significant amount ofopen space, including a large nature preserve. AsSandy demonstrated, however, without resiliency investments, this area will be highly vulnerable to future extreme weather events.This vulnerability is expected to expand as the climate changes. Given this, HPD and its designated private development partner havelaunched a new design competition to solicit revised ideas for the development that would incorporate resiliency elements. Among the re-siliency elements that will be considered will bethe placement of open space and built elementsto provide protection from extreme weatherevents. It is anticipated that competition winnerswill be announced in the fall of 2013.

Insurance

Insurance can help provide residents and businesses with financial protection againstlosses from climate change and other types ofrisks. Sandy not only highlighted the impor-tance of insurance, it also revealed that manyNew Yorkers are exposed to flood losses, whichare not covered in standard homeowners orsmall business property insurance policies.Citywide, 95 percent of homeowners carryhomeowners insurance, but when Sandy struckless than 50 percent of residential buildings inthe effective 100-year floodplain had coveragethrough the National Flood Insurance Program(NFIP), a federal program administered byFEMA that provides flood insurance to proper-ties in participating communities like New YorkCity. While larger properties, in particular largecommercial properties, tend to purchase floodinsurance through the private market, NFIP isthe primary source of flood insurance for home-owners throughout the country. The City esti-mates that in areas of South Queens inundated


by Sandy, less than 31 percent of residentialproperties typically insured under the NFIP, in-cluding 1- to 2- family homes, amongst others,actually had policies in force during Sandy. Fur-thermore, Sandy drew attention to the signifi-cant cost increases in flood insurance thatmany New Yorkers will soon face, resulting fromrecent reforms to the NFIP as required by theBiggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act.

The City will use several strategies to encour-age more New Yorkers to seek coverage and tohelp the NFIP meet the needs of policyholderscitywide. Specifically, the City will work to: address affordability issues for the most financially vulnerable policyholders; define mitigation measures that are feasible in anurban environment such as South Queens andcreate commensurate premium credits tolower the cost of insurance for property ownerswho invest in these measures; encourage theNFIP to expand pricing options (including options for higher deductibles) to give potentialpolicyholders more flexibility to make choicesabout coverage; and launch efforts to improveconsumer awareness, to help policyholdersmake informed choices. The initiatives de-scribed below are important examples of howthe City will advance these strategies. These initiatives will have a major impact on the residents, small businesses and nonprofits inthis community. For a full explanation of the following initiatives and a complete descriptionof the City’s five-borough insurance reformplan, please refer to Chapter 5 (Insurance).

Insurance Initiative 1Support Federal efforts to addressaffordability issues related to reform of the NFIP

The City will call on FEMA to work with the Na-tional Academy of Sciences to complete thestudy of flood insurance affordability, as re-quired under the Biggert-Waters Act. The Citywill urge its Federal government partners tocomply with this provision of the Act and takeswift action to enact the recommendations.

Insurance Initiative 4Call on FEMA to develop mitigationcredits for resiliency measures

The NFIP provides few incentives for propertyowners to protect their buildings from flooddamage and reduce their premiums, other thanby elevating their buildings—actually liftingstructures above flood elevation levels. In anurban environment such as South Queens, fora variety of reasons, elevation can be impracti-cal, undesirable, and/or economically infeasi-ble. Fortunately, other mitigation options areavailable. The City, therefore, will call upon

FEMA to provide appropriate premium creditsfor mitigation measures other than elevation.

Insurance Initiative 6Call on FEMA to allow residential policy-holders to select higher deductibles

Flexible pricing options can encourage morepeople, especially those not required to carryinsurance, to purchase insurance coverage thatsuits their needs. A higher-deductible optioncan substantially reduce premium costs to pol-icyholders while remaining truly risk-based.Currently under the NFIP, deductibles up to$50,000 are allowed for commercial policies,but residential policies are limited to a maxi-mum deductible of $5,000. The City, therefore,will call upon FEMA to allow homeowners thatare not required to carry NFIP policies to pur-chase high-deductible policies, protecting themfrom catastrophic loss; initial estimates indicatethat doing so could reduce insurance premiumsby about half.

Critical Infrastructure

A resilient New York requires protection of itscritical services and systems from extremeweather events and the impacts of climatechange. This infrastructure includes the city’sutilities and liquid fuel system, its hospitals andother healthcare facilities, telecommunicationsnetwork, transportation system, parks, waste-water treatment and drainage systems, as wellas other critical networks—all vital to keepingthe city, including South Queens, running.

Utilities

The city’s electric, natural gas, and steam sys-tems are essential for everyday life in areasthroughout the five boroughs, including SouthQueens. As Sandy proved, however, these sys-tems are highly vulnerable to extreme weatherevents, with 800,000 customers losing electric-ity and 80,000 customers losing natural gasservice during Sandy across the city, includingapproximately 131,000 in the borough ofQueens that lost electricity service in the bor-ough of Queens. This vulnerability likely willgrow as the climate changes.

Among the strategies that the City will use to ad-dress these challenges for residents of SouthQueens and other parts of the city will be to: callfor risk-based analysis of low-probability buthigh-impact weather events to be incorporatedinto utility regulation and investment decision-making; call for capital investments that hardenenergy infrastructure and make systems moreflexible in responding to disruptions and man-

aging demand; and better diversify the city’ssources of energy. The initiatives describedbelow provide important examples of how theCity intends to advance utilities resiliency citywide. These initiatives will have a positive impact on the residents, businesses, and non-profits of South Queens. For a full explanation ofthe following initiatives and a complete descrip-tion of the City’s five-borough utilities resiliencyplan, please refer to Chapter 6 (Utilities).

Utilities Initiative 5Work with utilities and the Public Service Commission (PSC) to harden keyelectric transmission and distribution infrastructure against flooding

Various transmission substations, distributionsubstations, utility tunnels, and undergroundequipment in the city are at risk of flooding dur-ing extreme weather. For example, 40 percent oftransmission substations are in the 100-yearfloodplain today, and 67 percent are likely to bein the 100-year floodplain by the 2050s. The City,through the OLTPS, will work with Con Edisonand LIPA to prioritize these assets based on theirroles in system reliability, and to harden them asappropriate. This effort will begin in 2013.

Utilities Initiative 6Work with utilities and the PSC to hardenvulnerable overhead lines against winds

During extreme weather events, high windsand downed trees threaten overhead electricpoles, transformers, and cables. The City,through OLTPS, will work with Con Edison andLIPA to manage the risk of wind and downed-tree damage through tree maintenance, linestrengthening, and a line-relocation program.In some limited cases, rerouting lines under-ground may also be warranted, depending onthe outcome of a cost-benefit analysis to beperformed in partnership with the utilities. Thiseffort will begin in 2013.

Utilities Initiative 7Work with utilities, regulators, and gaspipeline operators to harden the naturalgas system against flooding

Although the city's high-pressure gas transmis-sion system performed relatively well duringSandy, there were instances where remote operation of parts of the system failed. Addi-tionally, the distribution system had localizedoutages due to water infiltration. Seeking tolimit the compromising effects of future floodson both the system’s backbone and the abilityof Con Edison and National Grid to control andmonitor the system, the City, through OLTPS,will work with the PSC, Con Edison, and Na-tional Grid to harden control equipment against



flooding. In addition, the City will call upon ConEdison and National Grid to take steps to prevent water from infiltrating its gas pipes.This effort will begin in 2013.

Utilities Initiative 12Work with public and private partners to scale up distributed generation (DG),including microgrids

The city’s DG systems, including microgrids,have the potential for significant expansion—but are constrained by regulations, financingchallenges, and lack of information. The City—through OLTPS and the New York City Distrib-uted Generation Collaborative—a stakeholdergroup convened by the City in 2012—will con-tinue efforts to achieve a PlaNYC goal of in-stalling 800 megawatts of DG citywide by2030.These efforts will include reform of PSCtariffs and other regulatory changes, expansionof low-cost financing, and provision of technicalassistance to property owners and developers.This ongoing effort will continue in 2013.

Liquid Fuels

The liquid fuel supply chain is essential foreveryday life throughout the five boroughs, in-cluding in South Queens. Sandy demonstratedthe vulnerability of this system to extremeweather events. In the aftermath of Sandy, city-wide—and particularly in South Queens—therewere long lines at gas stations and other chal-lenges for drivers, including emergency respon-ders. The vulnerability of this system likely willgrow as the climate changes.

Among the strategies that the City will use toaddress these challenges for residents of SouthQueens and other parts of the city will be to: de-velop a strategy for the hardening of liquid fuelinfrastructure along the supply chain; increaseredundancy and fuel supply flexibility; and in-crease supply availability for vehicles critical tothe city’s infrastructure, safety, and recoveryfrom significant weather events. The initiativesdescribed below provide important examplesof how the City intends to advance its liquid fuelresiliency agenda citywide. These initiatives willhave a positive impact on the residents, busi-nesses, and nonprofits of South Queens. For afull explanation of the following initiatives anda complete description of the city’s five-bor-ough liquid fuels resiliency plan, please refer toChapter 7 (Liquid Fuels).

Liquid Fuels Initiative 1Call on the Federal government to convenea regional working group to develop a fuelinfrastructure hardening strategy

The fuel supply shortage after Sandy wascaused mainly by damage to infrastructure inNew Jersey and other states, where the Cityand State of New York have no regulatory orlegislative authority or oversight. The City,through OLTPS, will call on the Federal Hurri-cane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force and theUnited States Department of Energy to con-vene regional stakeholders to develop a strat-egy for hardening key infrastructure againstfuture extreme weather. This effort will belaunched in 2013.

Liquid Fuels Initiative 4Work with New York State to provide incentives for the hardening of gas stationsto withstand extreme weather events

Work with New York State to provide incentivesfor the hardening of gas stations to withstandextreme weather events New York State's2013–2014 budget required that certain retailfuel stations invest in equipment that wouldallow them to connect generators quickly in theevent of a power loss, and to enter into supplycontracts for emergency generators. The City,through OLTPS, will support the State in thedesign and implementation of this generatorprogram, an effort that will include workingwith the New York State Energy Research andDevelopment Authority (NYSERDA) to developan incentive program to minimize the financialimpact of the requirements on the businessesinvolved. In addition, OLTPS will work with theState to develop incentives to encourage retailfuel stations to implement resiliency measuresother than back-up power capability. This effortwill be launched in 2013.

Liquid Fuels Initiative 5Enable a subset of gas stations and terminals to have access to backup generators in case of widespread power outages

Gas stations are vulnerable to widespreadpower outages resulting from extreme weatherevents, which could prevent them from dis-pensing fuel. In New York State's 2013–2014budgets, NYSERDA was directed to develop agenerator pool program for gas stations. TheCity, through its Office of Emergency Manage-ment (OEM), will work with NYSERDA, FEMA,and the USACE tin 2013 and beyond to developsuch a pool and to create a pre-event position-ing plan to enable the ready deployment of gen-erators to impacted areas in the wake of adisaster.

Liquid Fuels Initiative 8Develop a package of City, State, andFederal regulatory actions to address liquid fuel shortages during emergencies

Various regulations relating to the transporta-tion and consumption of fuels in New York Citylimit the flexibility of the market to respond todisruptions, including following extremeweather. The City, through OEM, will work withthe State and Federal governments to preparean “off-the-shelf” package of regulatory meas-ures for use in the event of a liquid fuels short-age to allow supply-demand imbalances in thefuel supply to be mitigated more quickly. Thiseffort will be launched in 2013.

Liquid Fuels Initiative 9Harden municipal fueling stations and enhance mobile fueling capability tosupport both City government andcritical fleets

The City must be able to respond quickly to afuel supply disruption, providing continuous fu-eling to vehicles that are critical for emergencyresponse, infrastructure rebuilding, and disas-ter relief. The City, through the Department ofCitywide Administrative Services (DCAS), willprocure fuel trucks, generators, light towers,forklifts, and water pumps to permit the City toput in place emergency fueling operations im-mediately following a disruption in the fuel sup-ply chain. DCAS also will issue a request forexpressions of interest (RFEI) to potential sup-pliers of liquid fuels to evaluate options forsourcing such fuel during emergencies. Theprocurement effort will be launched in 2013,with the RFEI to follow in 2014.

Healthcare

The city’s healthcare system is critical to thewell-being of New Yorkers throughout the fiveboroughs, including in South Queens. This system is also a major economic engine for thecity as a whole. This is especially true for SouthQueens, where numerous nursing homes andadult care facilities, and a network of community-based facilities, doctors’ offices, and pharmaciessupport the local area. Sandy demonstrated thissystem’s vulnerabilities, which are expected togrow as the climate changes.

Among the strategies that the City will use toaddress these challenges for residents of SouthQueens and other parts of the city will be to:build new hospitals, nursing homes, and adultcare facilities to higher resiliency standards andharden existing facilities to protect critical sys-tems; seek to keep lines of communicationopen between patients and providers, even


during extreme weather events; and enablecommunity-based providers to reopen quicklyafter a disaster. The initiatives described belowprovide important examples of how the City in-tends to advance its healthcare resiliencyagenda citywide. These initiatives will have apositive impact on the residents, and health-care providers of South Queens. For a full expla-nation of the following initiatives and acomplete description of the City’s five-boroughhealthcare resiliency plan, please refer to Chap-ter 8 (Healthcare).

Healthcare Initiative 2Require the retrofitting of existing hospitals in floodplains

Many existing hospital buildings in the flood-plain remain vulnerable to the impact of stormsurge, with more likely as the climate changes.The City, through OLTPS, therefore, will seek toamend the Construction Code to require exist-ing hospital buildings in the 500-year floodplainto meet, by 2030, a subset of the amendedNew York City Construction Code standards forflood-resistant design. To minimize the risk ofemergency evacuations and extended clo-sures, these hospitals will be required to pro-tect their electrical equipment, emergencypower system, and domestic water pumps tothe 500-year flood elevation. These hospitalsalso will be required to install backup air-condi-tioning service for inpatient care areas in caseof utility outages, pre-connections for tempo-rary boilers and chillers if primary equipment isnot elevated, and pre-connections for externalgenerators as a backup power source. OLTPSwill propose these requirements to the CityCouncil in 2013.

Healthcare Initiative 3Support the HHC’s efforts to protect public hospital emergency departmentsfrom flooding

Emergency departments (EDs) are critical ac-cess points for patients in need of hospital serv-ices, and three public hospitals in Manhattanand Brooklyn are at risk of flooding due tostorm surge. The City will support HHC’s ongo-ing efforts to invest in measures to flood-pro-tect these vulnerable EDs so they can remainavailable to provide care during extremeweather events. The goal is for this effort tobegin in 2013.

Healthcare Initiative 4Improve design and construction of newnursing homes and adult care facilities

New nursing homes and adult care facilities areat risk of power failures due to storm surge,which could result in patient evacuations. The

City, through OLTPS, therefore, will seek toamend the Construction Codes to require thatnew facilities are constructed with additional re-siliency measures for their emergency powersystems. New nursing homes also will be re-quired to have emergency generators and elec-trical pre-connections for external stand-bygenerators. Adult care facilities will be requiredto install either emergency generators that areadequately protected or pre-connections to ex-ternal stand-by generators. OLTPS will proposethese requirements to the City Council in 2013.

Healthcare Initiative 5Require retrofitting of nursing homes in floodplains

Many existing nursing home facilities in the fiveboroughs are vulnerable to storm surge, includ-ing 9 in South Queens—a vulnerability thatlikely will grow as the climate changes. The City,through OLTPS, therefore, will seek to amendthe Construction Codes to require nursinghomes in the 100-year floodplain—includingfive facilities in South Queens—to meet standards for the protection of electrical equipment, emergency power systems, anddomestic water pumps (if applicable) by 2030.These systems will be protected to the 100-year BFE, in accordance with specifications already in the Construction Codes, and will helpenable patients to shelter in place safely or re-occupy quickly after a storm. OLTPS will propose these requirements to the City Councilin 2013.

Healthcare Initiative 6Require retrofitting of adult care facilitiesin floodplains

Nineteen adult care facilities in the city are vul-nerable to storm surge, including seven inSouth Queens alone. The City, through OLTPS,will seek to amend the Construction Codes torequire existing adult care facilities located inthe floodplain to elevate or protect their elec-trical equipment to the 100-year flood elevationby 2030, in accordance with the specificationsin the Construction Codes. In addition, the Citywill seek to require these providers to have ei-ther emergency generators that are adequatelyprotected or electrical pre-connections for ex-ternal generators. OLTPS will propose these re-quirements to the City Council in 2013.

Healthcare Initiative 7Support nursing homes and adult care facilities with mitigation grants and loans

The primary challenge for most nursing homesand adult care facilities in implementing mitiga-tion measures is obtaining financing. Subject toavailable funding, the City, through NYCEDC

and the New York City Department of Healthand Mental Hygiene (DOHMH), therefore, willadminister competitive grants and subsidizedloans to assist providers with mandated retrofitprojects. The goal is for NYCEDC and DOHMHto launch the program when proposed Con-struction Code amendments applicable to nurs-ing homes and adult care facilities proposed inthis report go into effect, likely in 2013.

Healthcare Initiative 8Increase the air conditioning capacity ofnursing homes and adult care facilities

Nursing homes and adult care facilities typicallydo not have enough emergency power capacityto run their air conditioning systems followingthe loss of power. This could cause someproviders to evacuate during power outagesthat occur during hot summer months. The Citywill offer a sales tax waiver, totaling $3 millioncitywide, to assist eligible nursing homes andadult care facilities to install emergency powersolutions for air conditioning systems.

Healthcare Initiative 9Harden primary care and mental health clinics

In communities such as South Queens that areat risk of extensive flooding during extremeweather events, primary care and mental healthservices may be compromised for weeks aftera disaster due to extended facility closures.Subject to available funding, the City, throughDOHMH and a fiscal intermediary, therefore, willadminister a competitive financing program toharden large clinics providing primary care andmental health services in South Queens andother high-need communities. The program willinclude grants and interest-free loans for capitalinvestments that enable faster recovery of serv-ices—for example, installation of emergencypower systems, protection of other criticalbuilding systems, and wet flood-proofing offacilities. The goal is for this effort to belaunched in late 2013 or early 2014.

Healthcare Initiative 10Improve pharmacies’ power resiliency

Pharmacies dispense life-saving medicines es-sential for those with chronic conditions. How-ever, without power, pharmacists cannotaccess the necessary patient records or insur-ance information to dispense these medicines.The City, through DOHMH, will work with phar-macies to improve their ability to leverage gen-erators for power resiliency and address theirother emergency preparedness needs–includ-ing the launch of an emergency preparednesswebsite for pharmacies. This effort already hasbegun and will continue throughout 2013.


Healthcare Initiative 11Encourage telecommunications resiliencyin the healthcare system

In the aftermath of a disaster, it is importantthat New Yorkers be able to speak to their doc-tors for guidance on needed medical care. TheCity, through DOHMH, therefore, will develop abest practice guide and outreach plan to helpcommunity-based providers understand the im-portance of telecommunications resiliency. Re-siliency solutions could include using back-upphone systems (such as a remote answeringservice that would not be affected by localweather hazards), Voice over Internet Protocol(VoIP) technology that allows office phone linesto be used off-site, and pre-disaster planning toinform patients of available emergency phonenumbers. This effort will begin in 2013.

Healthcare Initiative 12Encourage electronic health record-keeping

Doctors rely on patients’ medical records toprovide and track care, but paper records maybe compromised or destroyed due to extremeweather events. The City, through existingDOHMH programs, therefore, will call uponcommunity-based providers located in the 100-year floodplain and other disaster-proneareas to implement electronic health records(EHR) systems for resiliency. DOHMH’s PrimaryCare Information Project will sponsor initiativesto provide primary care and mental healthproviders citywide with EHR technical assistance. This effort will begin in 2013.

Beyond the priority healthcare resiliency proj-ects described in Chapter 8, including thosesummarized briefly above, the City is proposingan additional healthcare resiliency initiative specific to South Queens’ vulnerabilities. Thisinitiative is described below.

– – –

South Queens Initiative 5Build a new multi-specialty ambulatorysurgical center on the Rockaway Peninsula

The closure of the Peninsula Hospital Center in2012 left the entire Rockaway Peninsula withonly one full-service hospital, St. John’s Episco-pal Hospital. To help fill the service gap and im-prove access to medical services for theentirety of the Peninsula, including during ex-treme weather events, the City, workingthrough NYCEDC, has selected a private devel-opment partner to renovate the historic Rock-away Courthouse building in 2013. Followingits renovation, the Courthouse will be turnedinto a new multi-specialty ambulatory surgical

center and will also house medical tenants, pro-viding outpatient surgical services in specialtiesthat include ophthalmology, urology, obstetrics,gynecology, and orthopedics. It is anticipatedthat this renovation will be completed by 2015.

Telecommunications

The city’s telecommunications system is essen-tial to individuals and businesses throughoutthe five boroughs, including in South Queens.While this is true at all times, it is especially trueduring emergencies. As Sandy demonstrated,however, this system is highly vulnerable toextreme weather events—precisely when it ismost needed. Citywide and in South Queens,Sandy resulted in outages to landlines and mobile service, as well as to data service. Thevulnerability of this system likely will grow asthe climate changes.

Among the strategies that the City will use to address these challenges for residents of SouthQueens and other parts of the city will be to: increase accountability among providers to promote resiliency; use strengthened City regulatory powers and stronger relationshipswith providers to enable rapid recovery after extreme weather events; encourage hardeningof facilities to reduce weather-related impacts;and increase redundancy to reduce the impactof outages. The initiatives described below provide important examples of how the City intends to advance its telecommunications resiliency agenda citywide. These initiatives willhave a positive impact on the residents, businesses, and nonprofits of South Queens. Fora full explanation of the following initiatives anda complete description of the City’s five-borough telecommunications resiliency plan,please refer to Chapter 9 (Telecommunications).

Telecommunications Initiative 1Establish an office within the Department of Information Technologyand Telecommunications (DoITT) to focuson telecommunications regulation andresiliency planning

While the City has regulatory authority oversome aspects of telecommunications service,it has no entity focused broadly on ensuring theresiliency of the public communications networks. The City, therefore, will form withinDoITT a new Planning and Resiliency Office(PRO) that will have the resources needed to develop, monitor, and enforce resiliency standards, in close cooperation with State andFederal regulators and providers. DoITT willlaunch the new office in 2013.

Telecommunications Initiative 2Establish new resiliency requirements for providers using scheduled renewalsof the City’s franchise agreements

Flooding caused outages during Sandy in facil-ities that did not follow the Federal Communi-cation Commission’s recommended bestpractices for resiliency, including flood protec-tion measures. The City, through DoITT, will,therefore, encourage and enforce resiliencystandards for telecommunications providersthrough the franchise renewal process andthrough other agreements into which suchproviders enter with the City. The City will alsoseek to require standardized outage reportingand publishing. This effort will be launched in2014, in advance of 2020 franchise renewals.

Transportation

Without the city’s expansive transportation system, New York would grind to a halt. This wasillustrated starkly during Sandy when outagesoccurred across the system during and immedi-ately following the storm. These outages severely impacted South Queens, which founditself isolated by the shutdown of its only subwayline for over six months and other public transitsystems, as well as by flooding on arterial andsecondary roads. The vulnerability of this systemlikely will grow as the climate changes.

Among the strategies that the City will use to ad-dress these challenges for residents of SouthQueens and other parts of the city will be to:make the system more flexible and more resilient; protect critical elements of the systemfrom damage; and seek to maintain system operations during extreme weather events; and,following extreme events, to enable quick recov-ery, while also putting in place plans for back-uptransportation options until regular service canbe restored. The initiatives described below pro-vide important examples of how the City intendsto advance its transportation resiliency agendacitywide. These initiatives will have a positive im-pact on the residents, businesses, and nonprofitsof South Queens. For a full explanation of the fol-lowing initiatives and a complete description ofthe City’s five-borough transportation resiliencyplan, please refer to Chapter 10 (Transportation).

Transportation Initiative 1Reconstruct and resurface key streets damaged by Sandy

Sandy’s waves and flooding caused significantdamage to area roadways. The City, throughNew York City Department of Transportation(NYCDOT) will reconstruct 60 lane- miles of


streets that were damaged severely, and willrepave approximately 500 lane-miles of streetswith damaged surfaces. In South Queens, thiswill include 4 linear miles of reconstructed streetand 23 lane miles resurfaced along the JosephP. Addabbo Memorial Bridge, Cross Bay Boule-vard, and in Hamilton Beach, Broad Channel,Neponsit, Belle Harbor, Rockaway and Far Rock-away. Wherever feasible, the reconstructedstreets also will include upgraded resiliency features to prevent future damage. NYCDOT willlaunch this initiative in 2013 with funding fromFederal and City sources.

Transportation Initiative 3Elevate traffic signals and providebackup electrical power

New York’s traffic signals—and particularly thecontrollers that operates these signals and com-municate with the NYCDOT Traffic ManagementCenter—are vulnerable to damage from flood-ing as well as to power loss from variousextreme weather events. Accordingly, the City,through NYCDOT, will raise controllers at approx-imately 500 intersections in flood-vulnerablelocations across the city, including in SouthQueens. In tandem with this effort to place elec-trical hardware above the 100-year floodelevation, NYCDOT also will install power invert-ers in approximately 500 NYPD vehicles to allowthese vehicles to provide backup electricalpower to critical traffic signals. This effort willbegin in 2013.

Transportation Initiative 8Call on non-City transportation agencies toimplement strategies to address climatechange threats

Many non-City agencies that own and operatecritical portions of New York City’s transporta-tion system already announced resiliency and protection initiatives appropriate to their sys-tem. Without such action, the critical facilities,managed by these agencies, will remain vulner-able to damage and disruption from futureweather-related events. The City, therefore, willcall on these agencies to implement the initia-tives that they announced and take additionalsteps to protect their major transportation as-sets from climate change threats and preparefor quick restoration following an extremeweather event. Assets that may require hard-ening and/or preparation measures in SouthQueens include the A train viaduct between theRockaway Peninsula and Howard Beach. TheCity will work with these agencies to advancethese plans in 2013.

Transportation Initiative 9Plan for temporary transit services in theevent of subway system suspensions

When major portions of the subway system areout of service, there simply is not sufficient ca-pacity in the rest of the transit network or theroadway system to carry the increased volumeof commuters and other travelers. The City,through NYCDOT, therefore, will work with theMTA and other transportation partners to develop and regularly update formal plans toprovide temporary transportation services insuch an event, including following extremeweather. This planning effort will begin in 2013.

Transportation Initiative 10Identify critical transportation networkelements and improve transportation responses to major events through regular resiliency planning exercises

Many of the facilities critical to the City’s abilityto respond effectively to a disaster are vulnera-ble to disruption and damage during extremeweather events, potentially impairing deliveryof emergency services and supplies, as well asimpairing the restoration of critical non-trans-portation infrastructure and economic activity.This vulnerability is expected to increase as theclimate changes. To respond better to a varietyof different possible transportation outage andrestoration scenarios, the City, through NYC-DOT, will work with transportation agenciesaround the region to identify the critical elements of the transportation network thatneed to be available quickly following differenttypes of events. The key tool to identify thesenetworks will be an ongoing series of detailedand multi-disciplinary resiliency planning exer-cises—and potentially even live drills—that willallow NYCDOT and its partners to understandwhere resources need to be focused before,during, and after an event. This effort will beginin 2013.

Transportation Initiative 16Expand the city’s Select Bus Service (SBS) network

Parts of the city lack subway access or have slowand unreliable public transportation. In theseareas, the City and the MTA have been deploy-ing SBS routes to improve general mobility.These routes can form the backbone of high-ca-pacity bus service in the event of major subwayoutages, including following extreme weatherevents. The City, through NYCDOT, will work withthe MTA to expand the SBS network signifi-cantly, building on a plan developed jointly in2010. Implementation of this plan has alreadybegun, with a new BRT route planned for Wood-

haven Boulevard. In 2013, the City, workingthrough NYCDOT, will commence the public out-reach process to solicit feedback on a proposedSBS route along Woodhaven Boulevard andCross Bay Boulevard, serving Howard Beach,Broad Channel and the Rockaway Peninsula.

Beyond the priority transportation resiliencyprojects described in Chapter 10, includingthose summarized briefly above, the City is pro-posing an additional transportation resiliency ini-tiative specific to South Queens’s vulnerabilities.

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South Queens Initiative 6Expand ferry service to the Rockaway Peninsula

The vulnerability of the Rockaway Peninsula andBroad Channel to a prolonged outage of A trainservice was demonstrated immediately follow-ing Sandy, when the subway viaduct on whichthat service crosses Jamaica Bay was compro-mised. To provide transit alternatives while theviaduct was repaired after Sandy, the City, work-ing with Seastreak LLC, launched an emergencyferry service running on weekdays betweenBeach 108th Street on the Rockaway Peninsula,Lower Manhattan and 34th Street, supported byfederal funding provided by FEMA. At the sametime, the MTA put in place shuttle train servicealong the Rockaway Peninsula and temporarybus service connecting the Peninsula, BroadChannel and subway service elsewhere inQueens. With the restoration of regular subwayservice to Broad Channel and the RockawayPeninsula, the foregoing stop-gap measureswere scheduled to end. However, to help withthe recovery of area businesses and to assessthe viability of such service on a long-term basis,the City has both extended the weekday ferryservice that was instituted post-Sandy throughLabor Day 2013 (subject to certain ridershipthresholds) and is subsidizing through LaborDay 2013 expanded weekend ferry service tothe Rockaways from Manhattan, in partnershipwith Seastreak LLC and TWFM Ferry, Inc. Theweekday service will continue to stop at Beach108th Street on the Peninsula and WallStreet/Pier 11 and East 34th Street in Manhat-tan. The weekend service will stop at both RiisLanding and Beach 108th Street on the Penin-sula and Wall Street/Pier 11 in Manhattan.

Building on this pilot ferry service, the City willtake two other ferry-related steps. First, the Citywill, working through NYCEDC, seek to secure existing Federal transportation funding desig-nated for the Rockaway Peninsula to allow it topurchase and construct a flexible ferry landingthat will enable the City to deploy future ferryservice (whether for emergency, seasonal, or



commuter use) in a rapid and cost-effective way.Second, the City will also explore expanded ferryservice to areas citywide, including the RockawayPeninsula, on a permanent basis, through a Com-prehensive Ferry Study. The study will be led byNYCEDC and will be launched during 2013.

Parks

During Sandy, it became clear that, in additionto serving as neighborhood front yards andrecreation centers, in many places (includingSouth Queens), the City’s parks serve as thecity’s front line of defense when extremeweather events hit, buffering adjacent neigh-borhoods. As the climate changes, it will beeven more critical that the city’s parks are ableto play all of these roles.

Among the strategies that the City will use toaddress these challenges for residents of SouthQueens and elsewhere in the City will be to:strengthen the city’s parks so that they are ableto survive weather-related events more effectively and can act as stronger buffers foradjacent communities; and pursue technolo-gies and approaches that will enable the City tomonitor, analyze, and prepare the park systemfor its many roles in an era of increasingchange. The initiatives described below provideimportant examples of how the City intends toadvance its parks resiliency agenda citywide.These initiatives will have a positive impact onthe residents, businesses, and nonprofits ofSouth Queens. For a full explanation of the following initiatives and a complete descriptionof the City’s five-borough parks resiliency plan,please refer to Chapter 11 (Parks).

Parks Initiative 1Restore city beaches

Beaches play an important recreational role andalso are an important component in the city’scoastal defenses, but they cannot protect adja-cent areas without being “nourished” (replen-ished with new sand to replace that lost toerosion) from time to time. Subject to availablefunding, the City, through DPR, will collaboratewith Federal and State partners—including theUSACE—to implement plans quickly to restoresand lost after extreme storm events and to con-duct regular nourishment of beaches and regularmonitoring to detect the early signs of erosion.The goal is launch this effort at city beaches suchas Plumb Beach in Brooklyn and Orchard Beachin the Bronx by 2015 (see Chapter 3). To restorethe city’s beaches following Sandy, DPR and theDepartment of Design and Construction, in co-operation with many other City, State, and Fed-eral partners, conducted an expedited programof projects to provide new and elevated lifeguard

stations and public bathrooms and improve-ments to other beachfront amenities in advanceof Memorial Day 2013. DPR constructed 35 prefabricated modular buildings, to be usedas comfort stations and lifeguard stations, in Rockaway, Coney Island, and Staten Island, in-formed by storm surge projections for the 500-year floodplain at a height ranging from 7 to 14feet above the existing grade to reduce the riskof flood damage and give a greater level of pro-tection to these facilities. This impressiveachievement comprised the first phase of restor-ing the city’s beaches. In the coming months andyears, DPR will continue its efforts to provideemergency sand nourishment and to expediteplanning, evaluation, and design work for long-term plans to restore the city’s beaches, board-walks, and other beachfront amenities.

Parks Initiative 2Harden or otherwise modify shorelineparks and adjacent roadways to protectadjacent communities

Approximately 24 percent of DPR parks andother open spaces are in the 100-year flood-plain on the PWMs, which is expected to expand as sea levels rise—including in areaswhere parks front residential and commercialdistricts. Subject to available funding, the City,through DPR, will study and identify mitigationstrategies, including cost-effective ways to use its parks system to protect adjacent neighborhoods and the parks themselves.Strategies could include hardening or elevatingpark infrastructure, construction of levees orfloodwalls to minimize flooding and attenuatewaves, and using flood-tolerant materials in theconstruction of parks. The goal is to completethis study in 2014.

Parks Initiative 4Expand the City’s Greenstreets, includingfor Jamaica Bay

Increased localized flooding is likely from morefrequent heavy downpours in the future. Subject to available funding, the City, throughDPR and in partnership with DEP, will expand its efforts to build more and larger Greenstreets toabsorb stormwater, mitigate local flooding, decrease urban heat island effect, increasepedestrian and traffic safety, and beautifyneighborhoods. This will expand the installationof green infrastructure at appropriate locationsin the City’s streets, with approach modeledupon the NYC Green Infrastructure Plan, which improves water quality in combinedsewer areas.

The first phase of this expansion would focuson fourteen neighborhoods with the greatestpotential for improvement, areas that are not

slated for CSO improvements through the NYCGreen Infrastructure Plan, but could be well-suited for Greenstreets based on best availabledata showing low bedrock and ground water.The goal is to construct and maintain 1,600Greenstreets at a high density to amplify im-pacts such as cooling and ecological health.This expansion would capture approximately32 million cubic feet of stormwater per year by2015, with a footprint of over 50 acres of increased green space. Thereafter, DPR willconsider expansion of this strategy over a 10-year period, focusing on the remaining 20percent of the city where new Greenstreetscould provide myriad benefits. An early priorityfor this effort will be the area surrounding Ja-maica Bay, where DPR will collaborate with DEPand NYCDOT to reduce localized flooding andstormwater runoff, directly improving thehealth of the Bay. The goal is to begin pilot proj-ects in and around Coney Island, Marine Park,the Rockaways, and Canarsie, including Green-streets and parkland installations by 2014.

Parks Initiative 9Work with the Federal government totransform Jamaica Bay

One of the most significant opportunities in NewYork’s history for the development, manage-ment, maintenance, and programming of anintegrated set of wetlands and other naturalareas for natural habitat and recreational use exists in and around Jamaica Bay. Through itsgroundbreaking partnership with the NationalPark Service, the City, through DPR, will seek to promote habitat preservation and flood protection as well as a variety of programs in the10,000 acres of Federally and City-owned parksin and around Jamaica Bay. This program willoffer educational, scientific, recreational, andother opportunities to visitors. The goal for thispartnership is to lead large-scale bay restorationand green infrastructure projects, which, in addition to improving the Bay itself, also will protect the many adjacent neighborhoods inBrooklyn and Queens.

Parks Initiative 11Improve the health and resiliency of the city’s urban forests

The city’s forests and trees provide an array of health and environmental benefits. They are,though, vulnerable to a variety of climate-change-related impacts, including storm surge,wind, and changes in average temperatures.Subject to available funding, the City, throughDPR, therefore, will undertake a variety of efforts to protect trees—whether located innatural areas and parks, or along streets. Thiswould include adding forest managementcrews, identifying locations in which to expand


tree beds, and modifying regular tree inspec-tion and pruning efforts to prioritize trees inareas vulnerable to extreme weather events.The goal is for DPR to launch this effort in 2013.

Parks Initiative 13Establish a center for resiliency andrestoration efforts in the Jamaica BayRockaway Parks

The joint City-Federal effort to transform Ja-maica Bay into a national model has, as one ofits centerpieces, a plan to create a new Scienceand Resilience Center at Jamaica Bay. The City,through DPR and in close collaboration with theNPS, will work with leading academic institu-tions to make this center a reality, with initial op-erations to begin in the fall of 2013. The Scienceand Resilience Center at Jamaica Bay will servea variety of key functions. First, the Center willfacilitate decision-making by policy makersbased on the latest scientific information devel-oped by academic institutions. Second, theCenter will address Jamaica Bay issues, such aswater quality and ecological restoration. Third,the Center will seek to ensure the broad dis-semination of resiliency-related research andpolicymaking to governments and scientificinstitutions around the world. The goal is tolaunch the Center in 2013.

Water and Wastewater

The city’s water and wastewater system is oneof the most complex in the world, not only sup-plying millions of New Yorkers with safe drinkingwater, but also treating wastewater to enablethe area’s waterways to remain clean whiledraining rainwater to minimize flooding. Sandydemonstrated vulnerability to this system to awhole host of weather-related threats, rangingfrom surge and sea level rise, to heavy down-pours—threats that are expected to worsen asthe climate changes.

Among the strategies that the City will use toaddress these challenges for residents of SouthQueens and parts of the city will be to: protectwastewater facilities from storm surge; improveand expand drainage infrastructure; and pro-mote redundancy and flexibility to make avail-able a constant supply of high-quality drinkingwater. The initiatives described below provideimportant examples of how the City intends toadvance its water and wastewater resiliencyagenda citywide. These initiatives will have apositive impact on the residents, businesses,and nonprofits of South Queens. For a full ex-planation of the following initiatives and a com-plete description of the City’s five-boroughwater and wastewater resiliency plan, pleaserefer to Chapter 12 (Water and Wastewater).

Water and Wastewater Initiative 1Adopt a wastewater facility design standard for storm surge and sea level rise

Sandy damaged wastewater treatment plantsand pumping stations even though the designof City wastewater facilities typically has takeninto account the highest historically recordedwater height of nearby water bodies or the BFEsidentified in FEMA maps. The City, therefore, willadopt an increased level of protection for designand construction of all wastewater facilitiesbased on the latest FEMA maps, modified to re-flect sea level rise projections for the 2050s. DEPwill adopt the new design guidelines in 2013.

Water and Wastewater Initiative 2Harden pumping stations

Many of the city’s pumping stations are locatedin low-lying areas and are necessary to conveywastewater and stormwater out of communi-ties; however, their location also increases theirvulnerability to storm surge. Therefore, subjectto available funding, the City, through DEP, willretrofit these pumping stations to improve theirresiliency. These retrofits will include raising orflood-proofing critical equipment, constructingbarriers, and installing backup power supplies.Preliminary estimates indicate that there arecurrently 58 at-risk pumping stations, of whichseveral are already scheduled for capital im-provements. DEP will pursue implementation ofresiliency projects, in conjunction with repairsand planned capital work, and as appropriatebased on the level of risk, historical flooding,and potential community impacts, among othercriteria. Among the pumping stations to be con-sidered for hardening are five in South Queens.The goal is to begin implementation in 2014.

Water and Wastewater Initiative 3Harden wastewater treatment plants

All 14 of the City’s wastewater treatment facili-ties are located along the waterfront and aretherefore at risk in the event of a coastal storm.Subject to available funding, the City, throughDEP, will protect these critical treatment facili-ties by raising or flood-proofing assets that arecritical to the treatment process, or construct-ing barriers to avoid failure of these criticaltreatment systems. DEP will target initially facil-ities that have been identified as either most at-risk, or most likely to create issues for adjacentcommunities and waterways, based on the find-ings of an in-depth study by DEP. These facilitiesinclude the Rockaway and Jamaica WastewaterTreatment Plants, which serve the Peninsula,Broad Channel, Howard Beach and HamiltonBeach. The goal is for DEP to begin implemen-tation of adaptation measures for these and

other facilities in 2014 as part of repairs andother planned capital projects.

Water and Wastewater Initiative 4Explore alternatives for the RockawayWastewater Treatment Plant

The Rockaway Wastewater Treatment Plant wasone of the most heavily damaged wastewaterfacilities during Sandy. However, prior to invest-ing significant funds to protect the plant from fu-ture storms, the City, through DEP, will conducta feasibility study to consider converting it to apumping station, and potentially transferring itstreatment responsibilities to a less vulnerablewastewater treatment facility elsewhere in thecity. The conversion of this treatment plantwould provide the opportunity to incorporateprotective measures that would help avoid thefailure of critical systems in future extremeweather events and the potential impacts towater quality that could come with such failure.DEP will initiate this feasibility study in 2014.

Water and Wastewater Initiative 11Build out stormwater sewers in areas of South Queens with limiteddrainage systems

Large areas of South Queens, including por-tions of Broad Channel, Edgemere, Bayswater,Far Rockaway, Rockaway Beach and Arverne, aswell as surrounding neighborhoods in South-east Queens, such as Rosedale and Jamaica, donot have fully built-out storm sewer systemsand currently experience regular street flood-ing, which may be exacerbated if rainfall increases with climate change. DEP will, there-fore, continue to build out the storm sewersystems in these locations along with sanitarysewer upgrades and high-level storm sewers,undertaking 30 projects through 2023. DEP willseek additional sewer build-out, improvement,or upgrade opportunities in conjunction withNYCDOT street improvements and other com-munity infrastructure projects, including areaswith chronic street flooding.

Other Critical Networks: Food Supply

Though the food supply chain generallyemerged intact following Sandy, in certain localareas (including parts of South Queens), resi-dents found themselves without access tobasic sustenance after the storm. In addition,had Sandy played out just a little differently, it ispossible that significant links in the food supplychain—including the food distribution center inHunts Point in the Bronx—could have been se-riously threatened. As the climate changes, it islikely that risks such as these will grow.



Although initiatives outlined in several othersections above are important contributors tothe overall resiliency of the food supply network(including especially those addressing utilities,liquid fuels, and transportation), the City also willpursue food-specific strategies to meet this goalfor the benefit of residents of South Queens andother parts of the city. These strategies will involve calling for resiliency investments at themost significant food wholesaling and distribu-tion centers in the city and addressing issues relating to retail access in the event of extremeweather. The initiatives in Chapter 13 describehow the City intends to advance its food supplyresiliency agenda citywide. These initiatives willhave a positive impact on the residents, busi-nesses, and nonprofits of South Queens. For acomplete description of the City’s five-boroughfood supply resiliency plan, please refer toChapter 13 (Other Critical Networks).

Other Critical Networks: Solid Waste

On a daily basis, the solid waste collection system in New York disposes of more than12,000 tons of waste and recycling in a safe andsanitary fashion. Unlike many other critical Citysystems, during Sandy this one proved remark-ably resilient, resuming many of its normal func-tions almost immediately after the storm. Infact, thanks to the efforts of the City’s Depart-ment of Sanitation, even as the agency wasdealing with its own storm-related challenges,it was able to assist with the recovery of SouthQueens and the larger city by collecting the debris left by the storm in an organized and efficient manner.

However, the system does face real issues. Forexample, during Sandy, the city’s solid wastedisposal system did experience interruptionsthat interfered with its ability to convey refuseout of the city to its ultimate destination. Addi-tionally, as the climate changes, it is likely thatthis system will become more vulnerable to extreme weather.

Among the strategies that the City will use toaddress these challenges for residents of SouthQueens and other parts of the city will be to:harden critical City-owned solid waste assets toprotect them from extreme weather-related im-pacts; and seek to improve the resiliency of thebroader solid waste network—both City- andthird-party owned—enabling it to resume op-eration quickly should disruptions occur. Theinitiatives in Chapter 13 describe how the Cityintends to advance its solid waste resiliencyagenda citywide. These initiatives will have apositive impact on the residents, businesses,

and nonprofits of South Queens. For a com-plete description of the City’s five-borough solidwaste resiliency plan, please refer to Chapter13 (Other Critical Networks).

Environmental Protection and Remediation

Sandy showed that extreme weather events—which are likely to increase in severity with climate change—not only have the potential toimpact the city’s people, built environment, andcritical systems; they also can have a deleteri-ous impact on the natural environment. To helpminimize the impact of future extreme weatheron the environment, the City will advance arange of initiatives to protect open and enclosedindustrial sites containing hazardous sub-stances in an economically feasible way, and toencourage the cost-effective remediation andredevelopment of brownfields in a resilient fashion. These initiatives will have a positive impact on the residents, businesses, and nonprofits of South Queens, which is home toapproximately 16 industrial companies. For acomplete description of the City’s five-boroughenvironmental protection and remediation plan, please refer to Environmental Protectionand Remediation.

Community and Economic Recovery

New York is a city of neighborhoods, and theseneighborhoods vary widely in size and nature.Notwithstanding this variety, successful neigh-borhoods across the city tend to share certaintraits. Two of these are: a formal and informalnetwork of community members who help andsupport one another in good times and bad;and vibrant commercial and nonprofit sectorsthat employ and provide goods and services tothe people of the community.

As Sandy demonstrated, however, both the net-work of community-based organizations andthe commercial and nonprofit sectors in NewYork’s neighborhoods can be sorely testedwhen extreme weather hits. During these times(when contributions from these networks andsectors are desperately needed) these organi-zations and businesses themselves are fre-quently coping with the same set of challengesthat the community at large is—a circumstancethat can push even the most well-run organiza-tion or business to the breaking point. Even withthese pressures, during and in the immediate aftermath of Sandy, New York’s commercial andnonprofit sectors overcame many of their owndifficulties, playing a critical role in the recovery

of neighborhoods across the city, includingSouth Queens. However, as the climate changes,difficulties such as these will likely arise morefrequently, testing institutions mightily.

Among the strategies that the City will use toachieve the goal of making its neighborhoodsand their critical institutions more resilient willbe to: help build grassroots capacity and fostercommunity leadership; help businesses andnonprofits impacted by Sandy to recover; helpbusinesses and nonprofits in vulnerable loca-tions to make resiliency investments that will better prepare them for future extremeweather; and bring new economic activity toneighborhoods recovering from the impacts ofSandy to enable these neighborhoods to comeback even stronger than before.

The initiatives described below provide important examples of how the City intends toadvance its community and economic recoveryagenda citywide. These initiatives will have apositive impact on the residents, businesses,and nonprofits of South Queens. For a full explanation of the following initiatives and acomplete description of the City’s five-boroughcommunity and economic recovery plan,please refer to Community and Economic Recovery.

The initiatives described below provide impor-tant examples of how the City intends to ad-vance its community and economic recoveryagenda citywide. These initiatives will have apositive impact on the residents, businesses,and nonprofits of South Queens. For a full expla-nation of the following initiatives and a completedescription of the City’s five-borough communityand economic recovery plan, please refer toCommunity and Economic Recovery.

Community Disaster PreparednessInitiative 1Identify and address gaps in community capacity

The capacity of a community to organize to aidbusinesses and residents after an extremeweather event or other disaster is a strongpredictor of the success of that community’s re-covery. To improve the capacity of vulnerablecommunities, OEM, working with the NYCCenter for Economic Opportunity (CEO), will undertake a pilot assessment of the strengthsand weaknesses of a Sandy-impacted commu-nity, —which could be in South Queens—to inform the creation of a plan to address needsuncovered by the assessment. Subject to fund-ing, OEM and CEO will choose a pilot commu-nity and begin their study by 2013.


Community Disaster PreparednessInitiative 2Continue and expand OEM’s CommunityEmergency Response Teams

OEM currently trains 54 teams of 1,500 volun-teers across the city, which staff CommunityEmergency Response Teams (CERTs). Before,during, and after disasters, including extremeweather events, members of these teams helpto organize community disaster preparednessand participate in emergency response and recovery. Going forward, OEM will work withcommunities to create additional teams, ensur-ing that the volunteers that staff them are asrepresentative as possible of the communitiesthat they serve. Towards the same end, OEM,working with the NYC Center for Economic Opportunity (CEO), will also identify low-incomeyoung adults to be trained to lead their commu-nities in disaster preparedness. OEM and CEOwill launch this program by 2014.

Economic Recovery Initiative 1Launch business recovery and resiliency programs

Over 27,000 businesses citywide, includingnearly 2,300 in South Queens, were inundated bythe storm. For many, recovery has been challeng-ing. To assist with this recovery, immediatelyafter the storm, the City launched the series ofprograms, described in Community and Economic Recovery, including a $25 million loanand grant program and a $25 million sales taxwaiver program designed to help businesses getback on their feet. Building on the momentumof these programs, which have assisted over2,500 businesses as of the writing of this report,the City, through NYCEDC, will launch the CDBG-funded Business Resiliency Investment Programof up to $90 million to help vulnerable businessesthroughout the city make resiliency investmentsin their buildings and equipment, and the up to$80 million will assist businesses with recoveryand rebuilding efforts. NYCEDC will launch theseprograms in 2013.

Economic Recovery Initiative 2Launch the Neighborhood Game-ChangerCompetition

The recovery of many of the communities impacted by Sandy, including South Queens,has been hampered by a lack of opportunitiesfor economic advancement and employmentamong significant populations that were impacted by the storm. In many cases, thesechallenges existed even before Sandy, but havebeen exacerbated by the impacts of the storm.To address this, the City, through NYCEDC, willlaunch the CDBG-funded Neighborhood Game

Changer Competition to invest up to $20 millionin public money in each of the five communitieson which this report focuses, including SouthQueens. This funding will be available on a com-petitive basis to help finance transformationalprojects. To win the competition, a project willhave to spur incremental economic activity, andmatch public funding with significant privatecapital. Projects that would be eligible to befunded in South Queens through this competi-tion could include new attractions bringing newvisitors, significant new operations of a majorbusiness or non-profit, the revitalization of important commercial corridors, the expansionof an existing neighborhood institution, or amajor new transportation option. NYCEDC willlaunch this program in 2013.

Economic Recovery Initiative 3Launch Neighborhood Retail Recovery Program

At the core of many Sandy-impacted neighbor-hoods are the local commercial corridors thatprovide employment opportunities and servicesto those who live and work around them. Theyinclude local retailers, institutions, and serviceproviders—including food markets, pharma-cies, social service organizations, laundromats,and others. In many cases, though, these corri-dors were devastated by the storm. To addressthis, the City will call on the PSC and Con Edisonto amend the preferential Business IncentiveRate (BIR) program, which offers a discount onCon Edison’s electric delivery charges, and willwork with call on LIPA to create such a programin the Rockaways to allow it to be extended toimpacted small businesses in the five communi-ties on which this report focuses. Businessesand nonprofits with 10 or fewer employees thathave received support from City-sponsored loanand grant programs will be eligible for the dis-count for five years up to a maximum discountof $50,000 per business or nonprofit. The max-imum aggregate benefit available across the im-pacted community areas will be $1 million, for atotal benefit of $5 million. The goal is forNYCEDC to launch this effort in 2013. Amongthe corridors where the benefit would be avail-able in South Queens include:• Cross-Bay Blvd. (between Belt Pkwy and165th Ave.)

• Broad Channel• Beach 116th St.• Rockaway Beach Blvd. (between Beach 113thand Beach 116th Sts.)

• Beach 129th St.• Mott Ave. (between Cornaga and BeachChannel Dr.)

• All streets from Beach 90th to Beach 100th Sts.• Breezy Point

Economic Recovery Initiative 4Support local merchants in improving andpromoting local commercial corridors

As mentioned above, Sandy highlighted the im-portant role played by local commercial corridorsin many impacted communities. The City,through the Department of Small Business Serv-ices (SBS), will provide financial and/or technicalassistance to area business improvement districts (BIDs), merchant associations, and othergroups that work to improve market, maintain,and otherwise promote primarily commercialcorridors. Subject to review of applications re-ceived, SBS will prioritize allocating its resources,including its CDBG funding, to impacted commer-cial corridors. Such funding could be used for avariety of purposes, including capacity building,façade improvement programs, streetscape im-provements, and business recruitment and mar-keting efforts. In South Queens, corridors thatcould receive this additional assistance includeBeach 116th Street, Beach 129th Street, Mott Av-enue in Far Rockaway, and Cross Bay Boulevardin Howard Beach and Broad Channel. SBS willprovide this assistance beginning in 2013.

Economic Recovery Initiative 5Continue to support the FRESH programto increase the number of full-line grocersin underserved neighborhoods

Even before Sandy, the residents of many com-munities impacted by Sandy, including parts ofSouth Queens, lacked adequate access to freshfruits, vegetables, and other healthy foods. Toaddress this challenge, especially in underpriv-ileged areas of the city, in 2009, the Citylaunched the FRESH program (Food Retail Ex-pansion to Support Health), a series of zoningand financial incentives available to supermar-kets that fill this gap in underserved neighbor-hoods. To promote the recovery of commercialcorridors in these areas, the City will continueto promote the FRESH program, with a particu-lar focus on Sandy-impacted neighborhoods,including all areas east of Beach 116th Streeton the Rockaway Peninsula.

In addition to the measures described above,the City will advance the following initiatives toaddress South Queens’s community and eco-nomic recovery needs:

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South Queens Initiative 7Get New Yorkers “Back to the Beach” for summer 2013

Sandy caused extensive damage to the beachesof the Rockaway Peninsula. Thanks to substan-



tial efforts by DPR, all beaches in the area wereable to reopen by Memorial Day 2013, the tra-ditional start of the summer season, with ongo-ing boardwalk restoration continuing for partsof the boardwalk that sustained minor to mod-erate damage during Sandy. However, to re-store these beaches fully to provide recreationaland protective value to the neighborhoods theyfront, will require significant planning and con-struction. While this work will take time, it is crit-ical to the local economy that the beachescontinue to attract visitors from all over SouthQueens, the wider city and beyond. To this end,in addition to reopening the beaches with in-terim repairs to beach-related infrastructure andportion of the boardwalk, the City, along withthe local community, is also bringing back pop-ular recreational and entertainment events fromprevious years, including the Art in the ParksProgram, yoga and zumba outdoor fitnessclasses, movie nights and the annual Rockstockand Barrels festival. The City also is exploringadditional opportunities to revitalize the beach-front at key locations through the deploymentof additional food and beverage concessions.As noted above, these efforts will be bolsteredfurther by the extended and expanded ferryservice being supported by the City during thesummer of 2013.

South Queens Initiative 8Explore opportunities for long-term activation of the beachfront

Building on the beach restoration work de-scribed above, the City will explore new oppor-tunities to activate the beach and boardwalkalong the Rockaway Peninsula that are morelong-term and ambitious in nature. As a firststep, the City, working through DPR, will con-tinue to address those sections of the board-walk that were more substantially damagedduring Sandy and that, therefore, cannot be

restored in near-term. This process will includea full consideration of ideas received from thecommunity in numerous public forums sinceSandy and the completion of a detailed analysisof resilient rebuilding options. This work is al-ready underway, with plans expected to be re-leased to the public for discussion by fall 2013.

In addition to the physical restoration of theboardwalk, the City also will explore several op-tions to create new beachfront destinations atkey nodes along the Rockaway Peninsula. TheCity, through DPR, will create a plan for recre-ational and community amenities on the beach-front in consultation with the community, andrelease it publicly for discussion by fall2013.These amenities could include new recre-ational amenities such as a state-of-the-artskate park, new playgrounds with water fea-tures, volleyball and basketball courts andshade structures, as well as appropriate com-mercial amenities consistent with a boardwalkenvironment. The commercial componentsthat will be included within this plan, as appro-priate, could receive City capital support, subject to available funding, in conjunction withprivate investment, and will be implemented byDPR and NYCEDC.

As part of this effort, the City will further ex-plore a partial reconfiguration of portions ofShorefront Parkway to provide additional spacefor activities as well as improved parking andbike access. It also will pursue opportunities forpermanent cultural attractions such as publicart installations, and music and performing artsvenues along the beach. The City, through DPRand NYCEDC, will issue an RFEI in 2013 to seekpartners to bring cultural programming, as afirst phase, either to the Beach 108th Streetroller hockey rink or in a new “pop up venue” atBeach 96th Street, starting in 2014.

South Queens Initiative 9Develop a revitalization strategy for theBeach 108th Street corridor

As the City explores opportunities for long-termactivation of the beachfront, it also will createa detailed revitalization strategy for the Beach108th Street corridor, running from Jamaica Bayto the beach, exploring opportunities for poten-tial ferry service on the Bay-side, potential re-development of underused parcels, potentialpublic realm improvements along the length ofthe corridor including adjacent to the RockawayWastewater Treatment Plant, and retail im-provements. Development of this plan will bestarted by NYCEDC and DCP in 2013, with com-pletion expected in 2014. Thereafter, the Citywould move to implement land use and otherchanges that it deems to be appropriate, if any,based on the results of its study.

South Queens Initiative 10Develop a comprehensive commercial revitalization plan for Beach 116th Street

Beach 116th Street is centrally located on theRockaway Peninsula and provides easy accessto mass transit and Cross Bay Boulevard. Bysome measures, it faced challenges even be-fore Sandy, with store vacancies and underusedor vacant buildings and lots. As a result ofSandy, however, the corridor suffered extensivedamage, with many businesses destroyed andarea infrastructure, including the subway termi-nus, knocked out of service. To help in the post-Sandy revival of Beach 116th Street, bothfor year-round residents and seasonal visitors,the City will create a detailed and comprehen-sive commercial revitalization plan for Beach116th Street. This plan will set forth City-sponsored strategies (including, potentially,incentive programs and land use changes) that


Conceptual rendering of Beach 116th Street revitalization


Rendering of Beach 20th Street Plaza, Far Rockaway

will encourage the rebuilding of retail that wasdestroyed by Sandy along Rockaway BeachBoulevard, as well as the attraction of new development to underutilized lots (such as apossible “anchor block” at the corner of Beach116th Street and the beach). Development ofthis plan will be started by NYCEDC and DCP in2013, with completion expected in 2014.

Meanwhile, in the nearer-term, the City,through the Department of Small BusinessServices (SBS), will simultaneously continue tosupport small business-owners and the largercommunity with a retail facade improvementprogram and local merchant association capac-ity building program, using donated funds fromprivate partners and the Mayor’s Fund toAdvance New York City. Applications for fund-ing have already begun to be processed. Also,in the nearer-term, the City, through multipleagencies, will work to enhance the image ofBeach 116th Street through streetscape improvements, including new shrubbery,planters, benches, better lighting, an art instal-lation, and cleaner and safer streets.

South Queens Initiative 11Develop a commercial revitalization plan for Far Rockaway, potentially involvingrepositioning of City- and MTA-controlled sites

Far Rockaway's downtown, surrounding MottAvenue, is the commercial center and transithub for the dense Far Rockaway neighborhood.However, the area contains strategically placedproperties with unrealized or under-realized potential. The challenges faced by the areawere exacerbated by the events surroundingSandy, when many area residents who supportthe area's businesses were displaced and critical infrastructure, including subway service

to Manhattan, was lost. To help in the post-Sandy revival of Far Rockaway's downtown, theCity will create a detailed and comprehensivecommercial revitalization plan for the area. Thisplan will set forth City-sponsored strategies (including, potentially, incentive programs andland use changes) that will help create a vibrant, multi-modal hub serving the RockawayPeninsula and beyond, including by encourag-ing the development of currently vacant,privately owned sites in the area. In conjunc-tion with the development of this plan, NYCEDCand the MTA will also issue a request for pro-posals to private developers seeking new de-velopment on the publicly-controlled parkingand bus depot sites adjacent to the A train station. Finally, in the near-term, NYCEDC andNYCDOT, in partnership with the Rockaway Development & Revitalization Corporation, areworking on a beautification project in the areathat is expected to result in the construction ofa new pedestrian plaza south of Mott Avenue,linking the Beach 20th and Beach 21st Streets.In May, the project received preliminary approval from the City’s Public Design Commission, once formalized, construction willcommence.

South Queens Initiative 12Launch a satellite Workforce1 Career Center in Far Rockaway

Far Rockaway suffers from a high unemploy-ment rate, relative to others in South Queens.SBS will, therefore, work with local elected officials and institutions to launch a satelliteWorkforce1 Career Center in Far Rockaway,serving its population as well as residents ofsurrounding areas. Staff members will connectqualified candidates to job opportunities andwork with local businesses to help recruit fortheir needs. The Center also will provide

workshops and trainings to build skills andplace individuals in positions throughout NewYork City. The new Workforce1 Career Centerwill open by late summer 2013.

South Queens Initiative 13Implement planned and ongoing invest-ments by the City and private partners

Preservation and revitalization of neighbor-hoods most significantly impacted by Sandy willbe hampered if the momentum of planned in-vestments is lost. The City, therefore, will con-tinue to pursue and execute on public andprivate investments that had been planned priorto Sandy in South Queens. Such projects includebut are not limited to:

Parks and Open Space• Jamaica Bay/Rockaway Restoration Corps, apartnership with NPS launched in May thatemploys 200 workers to assist in the cleanupof Jamaica Bay and Rockaway Parks, restoringwoodlands, wetlands and parkland damagedby Sandy.

Community Facilities• Rockaway Institute for a Sustainable Environ-ment (RISE), a visitor’s center for community-based programs and cultural activitiesfocused on environmental issues in a formerArverne firehouse converted by the RockawayWaterfront Alliance with City support that is toopen in 2015.

• Beach 73rd Street YMCA, a new 44,000square-foot facility, the Peninsula’s first, beingbuilt on 2.2 acres at Beach 73rd Street andRockaway Beach Boulevard that is to open infall 2013.

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