John…
By Chris Fuchs
Construction could begin as early as June on the College Point Sports Park, a 5-1/2-acre complex that was closed down more than three years ago because of fears that it had been contaminated by toxic landfill, a spokesman for the city said Monday.
John Spavins, a spokesman for the Department of Design and Construction, said the construction has been broken into two parts: the cleaning out and leveling of the field, and the construction of two ballfields and a roller hockey rink. All told, the construction, which will cost the city $4.7 million, should be finished by early June of next year, he said.
The department has completed the design plans for the first phase, which centers chiefly on the leveling of the land, Spavins said. With construction scheduled to begin in June, the department will also put up electrical lines and install sewers as well as lay pipes to pump water into the park, he said. The second phase, focusing specifically on the design of the fields and park, is to be completed in late May, Spavins said, with construction possibly beginning as soon as late August.
At a meeting in November, Community Board 7 voted unanimously to approve the department’s plans, signaling a decisive first step in restoring the ballfields that were shuttered by the city in 1997.
In October 1997, the park, fenced in by Ulmer Street, 23rd Avenue and Linden Boulevard, was shut down by the Sanitation Department after an inspector found 15,000 cubic yards of construction and demolition debris dumped illegally in the fields. Although subsequent tests concluded that the landfill was non-toxic, as was first believed, an administrative judge upheld the Sanitation Department’s decision. Since then, children from the College Point Little League have had to play baseball elsewhere in Queens.
According to preliminary designs, the complex will have two ballfields, a full-sized one and a smaller one for Little League. Bleachers will be built for both an existing hockey rink and the ballfields, trees and bushes will be planted and a walkway laid that will traverse the two fields.
“Why should College Point pay out of their own pocket for what every other community gets for their normal taxpayer dollars?” said Tony Avella, president of the College Point Sports Association, a 30-year-old organization that has an enrollment of about 1,000 children from College Point, Whitestone, Bayside and Maspeth.
So far, both city and state elected officials from northeast Queens have earmarked a total of $5.25 million to underwrite the construction, although it was unclear how much of that the city has already received.
In addition, Avella said he was trying to secure funding from Queens elected officials to construct a football and soccer field. The construction on the hockey rink, which is part of the second phase, could be completed by this winter, he said.
Reach reporter Chris Fuchs by e-mail at Timesledgr@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 156.
