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The Ferry Point Park Golf Course inched one step closer to being a reality as the Parks Department received permission from the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation to begin construction on the first six holes of the 18-hole course.
DEC has determined that the environmental remediation, that the Parks Department oversaw for the past eight years at the former landfill, was successful.
Construction on the golf course, which started as Councilman Michael DeMarco’s dream in 1977, will finally be brought to reality sometime in 2012.
The plan to complete the golf course was stepped-up when Mayor Bloomberg allocated additional funds in the capital budget for the project two years ago and selected a new developer to get the job finished, Councilman Jimmy Vacca said.
“This golf course has been very slow in coming, but I believe that it is finally here,” Vacca said. “A golf course is a perfect fit for this location because it is a green space anyway.”
The golf course will have waterfront views and easy access from the Bronx, Queens and Westchester, because it is adjacent to the Hutchinson River Parkway and Bronx Whitestone Bridge.
A memo dated Thursday, June 16 from the Parks Department’s Hope Kaufman, the project manager at Ferry Point, to Community Board 10 district manager Kenneth Kearns, said the green light for the project has been given as of Friday, June 10.
According to the memo, the Parks Department has been monitoring the site every other week for the past eight years, testing any gas emissions that may be coming from the area, as well as testing the groundwater to make sure that it was safe to put the golf course on top of the inactive landfill, which closed in 1963.
Landfill gas emission, which had been a concern, is no longer an issue.
“In fact, landfill gas within the site, at the perimeter and at the off-site monitoring locations, is at such low levels that significant efforts had to be made recently to capture the gas at the vents to perform the required test,” the memo reads.
The new golf course will be a beautiful entrance to the borough from the Bronx Whitestone Bridge, said CB 10 parks committee chairwoman Virginia Gallagher.
“Can you just picture coming across the bridge and seeing the beautiful golf course on your right?” Gallagher said.
Many people in the Throggs Neck community are waiting to use the golf course for recreation, said Throggs Neck Home Owners president Lynn Gerbino.
“It is another step closer to being a golf course, and we are really happy about that,” Gerbino said. “I cannot wait to take golfing lessons because it is something that I really want to do.”
