The state will invest $7 million in the creation of a boat house in Greenpoint along Newtown Creek, a new park in Long Island City and the restoration of the wetlands of the creek as part of an initiative to invest in green projects, after the city was fined $10 million for missing a deadline to improve standards at the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant, the New York Daily News reported.
The state Department of Environmental Conservation, with $10 million to invest overall, chose from projects which were proposed by area residents last year.
“It’s a great opportunity for some of the negative effects that the plant has had to turn into some very positive assets for those communities,” said Jason Schwartz, director of the City Parks Foundation.
The projects are slated to be completed by 2014, Schwartz said.
The remaining $3 million was given to the Hudson River Foundation for other environmental projects, the Daily News said. [NYDN]