September 2012 - Parks & Recreation - 17

C O N S E R VAT I O N

More Sites for SITES
Sustainable Sites Initiative pilot program expands to more parks
By Elizabeth Beard

hirty-five park and open space projects are now participating in the Sustainable Sites Initiative (SITES) pilot
program, all in various stages of completion. SITES is a sustainability rating system for landscapes, which is often
compared to the LEED rating system for green buildings, and is a partnership of the American Society of Landscape
Architects, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at the University of Texas at Austin, and the United States Botanic Garden in Washington, D.C.

HUNTS POINT LANDING: A Park Lands in the Bronx

HE MOST RECENT to be completed is Hunts Point Landing in the Bronx,
New York, which opened on August 23.
Hunts Point is in a heavily industrialized
area of the South Bronx, known more for its
food distribution warehouse, power plant,
and sewage treatment plant than for its
open space or waterfront access. The site
for the new park is a former street that ended at the East River.
" We've noticed over the years when we
were doing the master plan that a lot of
people would come here for lunch, " says
Signe Nielsen of Mathews Nielsen Landscape Architects. " They would just literalHunts Point Landing
ly drive and park at the end of street and
just sit in their car and look at the view. "
balls " -honeycombed concrete balls designed for restoring
Hunts Point Landing is part of the larger, long-term South Bronx Greenway project, which will bring a mussel and oyster habitat. Several levels higher is a spartina-vegnetwork of connected waterfront parks to the Bronx. It joins two etated tidal pool, and then finally at the top level is a freshwater
other new parks recently constructed by the New York City De- wetland featuring native, food-bearing plants that attract birds.
Soil dredged up to create the new sloping shoreline was repartment of Parks and Recreation. However, Hunts Point Landing was built by the New York City Economic Development used to construct a small hill, hosting an amphitheater for use
by school and tour groups. Interpretive signage explains the
Corporation.
" Once completed, Hunts Point Landing will include a new park's water systems, wildlife features, and the estuary. No
fishing pier, ecological restoration through tidal pools, a kayak benches were put in the park; instead, all of the seating is prolaunch, and passive recreational areas, " says Kyle Sklerov, se- vided by large stones recycled from a nearby bridge that was
nior associate in public affairs for the New York City Economic being dismantled.
" We made an effort to make it distinctive from the other two
Development Corporation. " These amenities, along with the
rest of the city's South Bronx Greenway initiatives, will vastly parks, " Nielsen says. " I think that the first people who will come
improve outdoor recreational opportunities for residents of the are the fishermen. I think the second people who will come are
the folks who have watched it being built over the past year
South Bronx. "
The main sustainable feature of the unusual 800-by-100-foot and half at the food distribution center...And I imagine from
park is that 100 feet of the park at the water's edge has been re- there word will trickle back-although we did this project in
worked into a gradual slope including a vegetated wetland. The very close collaboration with the community. They know it's
lowest tier, covered by water most of the time, features " reef happening. "
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