Managed Retreat 2100
Guiding Principles of Managed Retreat
Strategies Over Solutions
Visioning high level possibilities for the future and frameworking paths towards community resilience.
1
Climate Crisis is Here
Building Community knowledge to protect physical and mental wellbeing is essential
2
Proactive Planning
Must accept the future impact of sea rise and climate change to create community resilience
3
Maintain Community
Retreat from coastal areas will be necessary, but relocation does not equal loss of community
4
People Over Profit
Retreat will be costly, future human safety must take priority over capitalistic development plans
5
Right to Housing
Due to climate change, loss of homes will happen secure transition to new housing is critical
6
Community is Diverse
To ensure a just, equitable transition underrepresented voices must be elevated and heard
7
Consensus is Hard
Diverse experiences and desires will make consensus difficult, understanding & empathy is vital
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A tribe related to the Mohegans of Connecticut sold most of Long Island, including the Rockaway peninsula, to the Dutch. They continued to live in the Rockaways for several decades, as few white men desired to settle at a location so far from the city with little arable land. In 1685, the band chief, Tackapoucha, and the English governor of the province agreed to sell the Rockaways to a Captain Palmer for 31 pounds sterling. In 1687 Palmer sold the land to Richard Cornell. Cornell and his family lived on a homestead on what is now Central Avenue, near the shore of the Atlantic Ocean.
A Place of Sands
Pre-Colonial to 1600s
Humble Beginnings as a Thin Sandbar
1600s-1800s
It is believed that from the 1500s-1800s the peninsula grew as a result of ocean currents pushing sand further and further west, forming first just a spit, then a ridge, and finally a piece of land substantial enough on which to build houses, roads and a subway line. The Rockaways formed a protective barrier that in turn allowed the marsh islands inside Jamaica Bay to form.
History of Edgemere & the Rockaways
In 1816 Rockaway Bath was built starting the Rockaway’s as a beach and resort destination. In 1833 the Marine Pavilion Hotel and Resort was constructed. The Marine Pavilion was one of the most luxurious hotels in the country at the time.
Beachtown Boom
Early 1800s
In 1865, the Brooklyn & Rockaway Beach Railroad began service. It did not go all the way to Jamaica but instead beach goes would take the train to Canarsie and transfer to a ferry would whisk them across Jamaica Bay to Rockaway Park, bypassing Far Rockaway entirely. By 1895, the South Side Railroad linked Valley Stream directly to Rockaway Beach.
Connecting to the Sea Side
MId-1800s
1893
Hurricane Midnight Storm
Atlantic Beach was attached to the Rockaway peninsula by a thin sandbar known as Hog Island,, washed away in after this hurricane that was taken back by the ocean then the 1893 hurricane with wind 115 mph producing waist-high water and 30 foot waves hit the coast.
In 1901, as public transit expanded into the peninsula, the Rockaway's famous amusement park, Rockaways' Playland, was opened earning the Rockaways the title of The Playground of New York. The early 1900s marked the peninsula as a destination for fun in the sun. Businesses and economics boomed and was an economic high point, unparalleled to it's popularity today.
Fun & Sun
Early-1900s
While middle class New Yorkers built their vacation homes, immigrant working class families, most particularly Jewish, Italian and Irish families began to build simple beach bungalows. By the 1920s, nearly 7,000 bungalows lined edge of a five-mile-long boardwalk.
Homes & Hideaways
Early-1900s
In 1937 and 1939, three Robert Moses projects took shape in the Rockaways. The Marine Parkway Bridge, the Cross Bay Bridge, and Shorefront Parkway, as well as additional public transit links aids in starting the transformation of the area. The Parkway, cut through the neighborhood and called for the demolition of all structures within 200 feet of the boardwalk.
Linked to the City
Early-1900s
Flooding
1933
Hurricane
1938
Category 3 hurricane caused millions of dollars in damage and killed 10 people in New York City
Hurricane Carol
1954
The 1950s brought about the Robert Moses era of slum clearing and urban renewal.The once blossoming beach town had fallen on hard times as vacationers shift to other beach destinations more easily accessible. Businesses close, resort hotels are either demolished or turned into apartments, and summer cottages become year-round housing of last resort for low-income New Yorkers.
Moses' Impact & Economic Decline
Mid-1900s
1951 - Arverne Houses with 418 units, is opened.
1955 - Hammels Houses with 712 apartments, is opened.
1961 - Edgemere Houses with 1395 apartments, is opened.
1965 - Arverne is designated an Urban Renewal Area. Barely winterized beach bungalows, are used to house poor families and individuals displaced from urban renewal sites elsewhere in the city had become a slum with conditions that were “as bad as in the worst ghettos,” according to the Department of City Planning’s 1969 Plan for New York City.
Poor in Isolation
Mid-1900s
Until the 1960s the Rockaways hough only a small number of the population of Queens, but after it contained more than half of its public housing. The housing programs effectively took the city’s most underserved residents displaced them as far as possible from the resources they needed.
Between the 1970s and 1990s the City acquires over 100 lots
in Edgemere.
In 1997, the City establishes the Edgemere Urban Renewal Area with the goal of developing over 800 units of affordable housing, new amenities, and infrastructure upgrade. Over 300 one- and two-family homes are completed in Edgemere.
Urban Renewal to Resilient Edgemere
Late-1900s
New Development
Early-2000s
2004 - Arverne-By-the-Sea Development opened.
2012 - Arverne-By-the-Sea Development grown to include nearly 2,300 homes.
2011
Hurricane
Irene
2012
Hurricane
Sandy
More than 1,000 structures are destroyed, and 10 feet of storm surge flooded the area. Residents lived for months without heat and with mold in their homes from the water damage.
2016
Goals for 2030, adopted by all United Nations Member States is a shared vision for people and the planet, now and into the future. 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), are an urgent call for action by all countries - in global partnership
2018
NYC Plan for creating resilience in the face of climate change in the Edgemere community.
2019
The framework for a comprehensive ambitious plan to combat climate change by creating millions of jobs in new green industries, transitioning our energy system, and building new infrastructure.
*based on 2018 5-year American Community Survey Data for study area census tracts
*3/4 of the units are subsidized/ public housing
2 feet of sea rise
2020-2040
Sea Rise has Started
The sea has risen by about two feet. The effects are mostly not noticeable or impacting homes/businesses.
There is more regular flooding in low lying areas close to the coast.
2-3 feet of sea rise
2040
NYC Resilient Edgemere Plan
Surpassed by Sea Rise
Sea level rise is between 2-3 feet. The 2018 Resilient Edgemere Plan has come to the end of its usefulness. Some measures are still aiding the community, but sea levels are still rising and will soon surpass the predictions the plan accounted for.
3 feet of sea rise
2050
Sea Impacts are Seen
The sea has risen by about three feet. The effects are of sea level rise are easily visible to the community.
4 feet of sea rise
2060-2070
Ground Transportation Impacted
Sea level rise has hit 4 feet at high tide. At 4 feet rise, most ground transportation is regularly inundated making public transit unreliable. Major impacts of sea rise are starting to impact the community.
