BY ANGELA MATUA
What’s New
www.qns.com i LIC COURIER i FEBRuary 2017 11
Photo courtesy of Flickr Creative Commons/Travis Grathwell
Astoria Park is getting a turf
soccer field, new track and
adult fitness equipment
By Angela Matua
A storia Park is on track to
receive $30 million worth
of upgrades as part of the
mayor’s Anchor Parks program and
some of those improvements have
been announced by the Parks Department.
On Jan. 25, Astoria residents were
invited to a “Report Back” meeting by
the agency to discuss the proposed
solutions to comments they heard at a
November meeting to garner feedback.
More than 150 residents attended the
meeting at Bohemian Hall, according
to Meghan Lalor, spokesperson for the
Parks Department.
As part of the city’s new Anchor Parks
initiative, five parks will receive money
to initiate upgrades like new soccer
fields, comfort stations, running tracks
and hiking trails. More than 75,000 New
Yorkers live within walking distance of
each anchor park and they were chosen
based on “historical under investment,
high surrounding population and potential
for park development,” the mayor’s
office said.
Six main projects were identified including
improvements to the track and
field, the reconstruction of Charybdis
Playground, adding more gathering
spaces, lighting, green infrastructure
such as rain gardens and new programming.
The first phase is in the process of
being designed, according to the Parks
Department. The current soccer field
will be replaced by a 180-by-360-foot
synthetic turf soccer field surrounded
by a newly reconstructed 400-meter
running track. Additionally, the space will
include adult fitness equipment, drinking
fountains, bottle fillers and misting posts
and a new seating area with bleachers.
Community Board 1 will see a preliminary
plan for the soccer and track field
and a conceptual master plan in March.
For other projects, such as the reconstruction
of Charybdis Playground,
additional scoping and input sessions will
take place before the Parks Department
creates any designs.
The playground made headlines in
early 2016 when city workers discovered
in spring 2015 that sewage from the
playground and Astoria pool bathrooms
had been seeping into the East River
since the 1930s.
