DESIGN AGENDA FOR FRESHKILLS

Since the decommissioning of Freshkills as a Landfill in 2001, the Department of City Planning along with the New York Department of State’s Division of Coastal Resources developed a 30 year master plan to regenerate the site into New York’s largest park by 2036. Planning called for five main areas to provide natural habitats for wildlife, reinstate the natural topography, program a variety of activities and design the circulation through the 2200 acre expanse (ArchDaily, 2013).

In the same year a design competition was held to address the planning and stage the redesign into three, ten-year phases. James Corner Field Operations won the competition with their incorporation of sustainable energy infrastructure. Natural gas collection from the decomposing waste will be harnessed to heat approximately 22,000 homes and also includes the consideration for photo-voltaics, wind turbines, and geothermic heating and cooling (ArchDaily, 2013). The site also utilises an innovative strategy to improve the fertility of the new soil. It consists of planting, cutting and replanting grasses in quick succession to add organic matter back into the soil in order to make way for future tree plantations (Field Operations, 2006).

MONITORING AND MAINTENANCE

The site is regulated and overseen by government agencies at the federal, state, and local levels to ensure that the quality of its air, water, and soil are at safe levels for the public to enjoy the park now and into the future, (NYC Parks, 2018). There are many Environmental control systems and monitoring programs to protect the environment, public health and indigenous and migratory wildlife from impacts associated with the landfill. Potential pathways for pollutant exposure including areas used by hikers or kayakers are monitored and regularly tested to ensure public health and environmental health are protected (Field Operations, 2006).

In 2012, NYC parks hired twenty Anglo-Nubian goats for six weeks to restore a wetland within Freshkills by eating their way through 2 acres of the invasive weed phragmites. The managers of Freshkills were also testing the ability for goats to help manage the park into the long term,

“We want to introduce the idea of using goats to help in vegetation management... The sanitation department mows once a year. But this is 2,200 acres. We need help.” Eloise L. Hirsh, Freskills administrator, (NY Times, 2012). If successful, Freshkills may house a permanent herd.

CONTEXT OF FRESHKILLS

Freshkills was formally a sea level wetland running along the western coast of Staten Island, west of New York City. In 1948 it became a landfill as a temporary solution for NYC’s waste. It had a convenient waterside location where transporting rubbish could be done easily and cost effectively on barges (Freshkills Park timeline, 2018). The rise in consumption post World War II solidified its continued operation and it became the US’s largest landfill, accepting all of NYC’s solid waste by 1991. Its garbage hills could be high as 200-feet (60m), burying nearly 30,000 tons of trash daily (ArchDaily, 2013). During the 1960s, the landfill became overrun with a rat population that threatened to take over the island. Birds were introduced to manage the rats, and the landfill was deemed a wild bird sanctuary (Atlas Obscura, 2018). Residents of Staten Island regularly complained about the odour and plans were drafted to someday close the landfill. It became known as the world’s largest man-made structure and will continue to undergo radical transformation to become a pubic park, three times the size of Central Park (Freshkills Park, 2018).

Freshkills was officially closed on March 22nd, 2001 however, 9/11 meant Freshkills was partially reopened to allow the debris from the Twin Towers to be investigated by forensics looking for clues and remains. There is an estimated 1,250,000 tons (approx) of rubble and human microremains at the site now known as West Mound where a memorial is planned (The Guardian, 2016).

CONTAMINATION AND REMEDIATION

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) requires a landfill cap to be installed over all closed landfills (Freshkills Park, 2018). As Freshkills collected the municipal solid waste of NYC for 53 years, a deep cap was specified of approximately 3-12 feet (approximately 914mm-3657mm), (Freshkills Park, 2018).

The cap features an impermeable plastic liner and eight additional layers of barrier material to separate the ground above from the landfill beneath. There are several systems in place to manage the landfill gas and leachate byproducts. Some are visible, such as the white stacks of the Flare Stations, but most are invisible, such as the extensive network of piping which transport the gases to the on site purification plant and then onto the electricity generators. Drainage channels collect the leachate which is then pumped to the Freshkills Landfill Treatment Plant where pollutants are removed. It is then discharged into Arthur Hill (City of New York, 2001; NYC Parks, 2018). Furthermore there is a collection of swales, down chutes and retention ponds to manage the water table above the impermeable layer which also helps to reduce the risk of erosion to the cap by rainwater (FreshKills Park, 2018).

EFFECTIVENESS OF PROJECT

The landfill site has been transformed into a public park nearly three times the size of Central Park. It has effectively restored parts of the tidal marshes and creeks, contains 40 miles (approx. 64km) of pathways and trails, contains recreational, cultural and educational amenities, including a proposed monument to honour the
9/11 recovery effort undertaken at Freshkills. But it has still taken over US$1 billion to achieve (Freshkills Park, 2018). Even though Freshkills has closed, the consumption and waste of New York City has not been curbed. The waste has simply been redirected to several landfills in New Jersey (ArchDaily, 2013).

During Hurricane Sandy, the FreshKills site absorbed a critical part of the storm surge which protected nearby neighbourhoods from severe flooding. It demonstrates the role of wetland buffers in protecting the coast during adverse weather events and rising sea levels as a result of climate change, (NY Times, 2012).