By Joseph Morales

  Clove Lakes and Silver Lakes Park are among the largest parks on Staten Island and are popular recreational destinations for residents across the borough. Spanning multiple Staten Island neighborhoods, the parks have several sports fields, the Staten Island War Memorial Ice Skating Rink, and a plethora of natural beauty, including a 300-year-old tulip tree in Clove Lakes Park. The parks are also adjacent to the Staten Island Zoo. The parks are also located near several schools, Wagner College and St Johns University-Staten Island Campus. In addition to all of the valuable amenities that already make it a community asset, the park’s extensive network of walking/cycling trails connect the surrounding communities to the park and each other, allowing many Staten Island residents to experience what the park has to offer as part of their daily lives. 

                    Now, the NYC Parks Department is taking multiple steps to improve the park’s transportation infrastructure to continue improving its connectivity to its surrounding communities. One of the major steps the agency is taking is the reconstruction of the walking/cycling trails at both parks and Hero Park, a smaller park adjacent to Silver Lakes Park. This will likely include the replacement of many trails, such as those in Clove Lakes Park near Royal Oak Road directly off of Victory Boulevard in the Royal Oak neighborhood, where a Parks Department spokeswoman told the Staten Island Advance, “Work will address damaged path areas, as well as some drainage and erosion issues, providing a more seamless experience for all parkgoers.” The Staten Island Advance also reported in reference to conditions at Clove Lakes Park in July 2020 that the trails in the park were “… in need of resurfacing and paving with more durable asphalt…”   

                        On my visit to the park on Sunday, March 19th, 2023, it appeared that construction had already begun as it appeared that crews placed a load of small rocks for people to walk/cycle on while one of the trails was being constructed. There also appeared to be a small area closed off along the trails closest to the park entrance on Royal Oak Rd/Potter Ave that was being used to store new trail parts and parts from the trail that was dismantled to make room for the brand-new pathways. According to the NYC Parks Department website, the reconstruction started this month and is expected to be completed in September 2023.

                         It is unclear if the project includes reconstruction of the recently built $1.9M 5K running trail at Clove Lakes Park, which had dealt with extensive damage when the remnants of Hurricane Ida hit New York City in September 2021. Many Staten Islanders then advocated strongly for the trails to be restored, while the NYC Parks Department said the agency did not have the capital funding in order to do so. So in August 2022, nearly 100 volunteers, including Parks Department Borough Commissioner for Staten Island Linda Ricciardone and members of high school track teams, worked together to restore the trail. According to the Staten Island Advance, a Rosebank beverage distributor, Beverage Island, stepped in to provide volunteers with water and Gatorade as they worked on sweltering 90+ degree days. Now, Borough President Vito Fosella and former Staten Island Assemblymember Michael Cusick have a long list of volunteers to call on should conditions ever worsen, which will hopefully allow the trail to continue connecting its surrounding communities and people for years to come. 

                         In addition, to the pathway reconstruction, the Parks Department plans to install green infrastructure in the Clove Lakes Park parking lot. As this project is still in the design phase and the Parks department is working on developing the proper documents and applying for the proper permits to build the project, there is no word on exactly what green infrastructure will be constructed, “green infrastructure” projects that have been completed in both The Bronx and Brooklyn at popular parks such as St. Marys Park in the South Bronx and Coney Island Greenstreets in Brooklyn have both included infrastructure for the purposes of capturing storm water. 

                     Capturing storm water serves to prevent local flooding and to prevent floodwater from polluting local waterways. These are two things that are absolutely critical for Clove Lakes Park, given the amount of species that populate the nearby wetlands. These including species such as mallards(Anas platyrhynchos), Canada Geese(Branda Canadensis) and numerous species of gulls, according to the Parks Deartment Website. The infrastructure would also be critical for preventing localized flooding to the aprking lot, which also serves as the parking lot for the Staten Island Zoo. Given the fact that most Staten Island residents have cars and the neighborhoods around the park are largely residential, access to adequate parking ensures that all who wish to drive to the park can do so and get the most out of the area’s recreational facilities. The design phase is expected to be completed in June with $1-3 million in funding coming from the Mayor Adams’ Administration in support of this phase of the project.

                     These projects show how routine infrastructure upgrades and upkeep to a park can make a difference in connecting communities physically and culturally through physical activity and recreation.  The wide range of infrastructure improvements the NYC Parks Department plans to implement can help to upgrade the park experience at these popular parks for years to come. 

Works Cited

NYC Department of Parks and Recreation. “Capital Project Tracker.” NYC Parks, 2023, https://www.nycgovparks.org/planning-and-building/capital-project-tracker. Accessed 21 March 2023.

Dalton, Kristin F. “Clove Lakes Park walking path to be resurfaced.” SILive.com, 24 May 2022, https://www.silive.com/news/2022/05/clove-lakes-park-walking-path-to-be-resurfaced.html. Accessed 21 March 2023.

Humbrecht, Rebeka. “Millions in funding for restoration of Clove Lakes Park walking paths included in city’s 2021 budget.” SILive.com, 3 July 2020, https://www.silive.com/news/2020/07/millions-in-funding-for-restoration-of-clove-lakes-park-walking-paths-included-in-citys-2021-budget.html. Accessed 21 March 2023.

Dalton, Kristin F. “Good News: 100 volunteers restore 5K hiking trail at Clove Lakes Park.” SILive.com, 11 August 2022, https://www.silive.com/news/2022/08/good-news-100-volunteers-restore-5k-hiking-trail-at-clove-lakes-park.html. Accessed 21 March 2023.

City of Los Angeles. Stormwater Capture, http://stormwaterdashboard.lacity.org/. Accessed 21 March 2023.

New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. “Clove Lakes Parking Lot Green Infrastructure Construction.” NYC Parks, https://www.nycgovparks.org/planning-and-building/capital-project-tracker/project/10262. Accessed 21 March 2023.