City to Break Ground on Saw Mill Daylighting at Larkin Plaza in June

  Residents of Yonkers will be getting new riverfront parkland in the downtown, as the city will begin its long-awaited plans to expose, or daylight, the Saw Mill River in June. The announcement was made by Mayor Phil Amicone in his State of the City address held last week.

 The daylighting of the river will begin at Larkin Plaza, at the site of the parking lot currently located in the middle of the plaza; the loss of parking spaces being made up for at the Buena Vista Garage nearby.

 Eight hundred linear feet of river will be daylighted at Larkin, with the water flowing through four ponds that will be created at the four-acre site. The ponds will provide ecological benefits and help encourage fish migration, specifically of the American Eel and Hudson River Herring, up the river. Vegetation, reeds and grass will be planted in and around the ponds to provide shade and nutrition for the fish.

 The daylighting project will also help to prevent the 170 tons of floatable debris that currently wind up in the Hudson River; the city will install hidden screens that will act as catch basins, collecting bottles and other garbage before it empties into the river.

 The project also includes the installation of a water main on Dock Street, which will provide a back-up drainage system for properties in the neighborhood.

 In addition, the current 28-foot wide underground water flume, which carries the flow of water from the Hudson River into the Saw Mill, will remain intact and underground, to be used when there is a high volume of rain and water flow, preventing flooding at Larkin.

 The new park will include additional green space, trees, benches, entertainment spaces, new curb-to-curb street lighting and a walkway bridge that will cross over the river. The Gold Star Mother’s monument will be relocated to a corner of the plaza.

 Getting the daylighting project from the drawing board to reality has been several years in the making and comes as a result of the hard work of many individuals in City Hall. Jim Pinto in particular, development director of Yonkers Waterfront Development, has been a driving force behind this project.

 “This is a unique project, which will incorporate some of the successful riverfront projects in San Antonio and Providence, Rhode Island,” Pinto said.

 “This project will be an economic generator for our downtown, with plans to create on-street dining and entertainment spaces along the river. It will create jobs, but at the same time is a huge plus to the environment. It will bring back aquatic life, clean up the Hudson River, and will be an oasis in the middle of our downtown.”

 The engineers of the project, PS&S Engineering, with offices in Yonkers, has completed its study and will now help the city come up with requests for proposals to obtain bids for the construction work required to expose the river.

 Keith Samaroo, of PS&S, said, “We are excited to be working on this project, which is one-of-a-kind and will create a river walk in Yonkers’ backyard.” Samaroo said that their specs for bids will be completed in a few weeks.

 The project will then be in the hands of the city, which must approve contractors to perform the work.

 The estimated cost of the project is $16 million. The city will use $6 million in daylighting funds obtained from a grant from former Governor George Pataki in 2006. Pinto said that the city has submitted a grant proposal for an additional $8.5 million from the State Department of Environmental Conservation to pay for most of the remaining costs.

 “We will obtain the funds needed to complete the project,” he stated.

 The project is expected to take 18 months to complete.

 “We were thrilled that the mayor highlighted the Saw Mill River daylighting as one of the keys to the city’s future,” said Rick Magder, executive director of Groundwork Hudson Valley, which partnered with the city to help make the Saw Mill River daylighting at Larkin a reality.

 “Bringing waterfront development into our downtown will pay dividends in many ways, and the daylighting of the Saw Mill River at Larkin Plaza will help build upon the private development for the good of the entire community.

 “Groundwork Hudson Valley and the Saw Mill River Coalition received a grant to work with the city on a habitat plan, and we couldn’t be more pleased. Together we have developed a design that will return the river to ecological functionality. The American Eel is a fish species with a restoration priority, and this daylighting project will help make it travel up stream to spawning grounds.

 “This is not just your standard urban park; it will have significant ecological benefits to encourage wetland habitat species and other aquatic wildlife,” Magder said.

 The daylighting at Larkin Plaza is one of two locations at which the city intends to daylight the Saw Mill, with the other location at Chicken Island and Getty Square. That daylighting project was to be incorporated with the Struever Fidelco Cappelli (SFC) downtown redevelopment project, which has been delayed due to the economic downturn.

 Pinto said that the city still plans to daylight the river at Chicken Island. The city’s New Main Street Development Corporation (NMSDC) was set up last year to acquire properties along Chicken Island and Getty Square under which the river flows, demolish the properties and daylight the river.

In addition, the city is currently holding a $24 million grant, obtained by former State Senator Nick Spano, to pay for the costs of daylighting the river at Chicken Island.