Upcoming repairs and renovations planned for local parks and playgrounds across southwest Brooklyn

SOUTHWEST BROOKLYN — It looks like the perfect time to take a walk in the park.

With a slew of improvements coming to parks across southwest Brooklyn, City Councilmember Justin Brannan and Brooklyn Parks Commissioner Marty Maher met on Monday, Jan. 13 to discuss projects taking place in local parks and playgrounds in Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, Gravesend, Bensonhurst and Bath Beach.

“My constituents work hard and pay plenty of taxes — they deserve a solid return on their investment. Making sure my district has world class parks, playgrounds, courts and fields is one of my top priorities as a local elected official,” noted Brannan, who added, “And we are just getting started.”

According to Brannan, construction will soon begin on the basketball and tennis courts at the Fort Hamilton Field at Colonial Road and 83^rd Street. The project includes the reconstruction of two full-court basketball courts, with three-tier bleachers, bottle-filler drinking fountain, drainage and landscaping. The two full-court tennis courts will be completely reconstructed with drainage, paving, windscreen and fencing. The construction will begin in fall 2020 and end in fall 2021.

This follows the full reconstruction of the synthetic turf track and field at Fort Hamilton along with water fountains by the School Construction Authority in August 2019.

In addition, the building in Shore Road Park at 95^th Street, which has been under construction since last spring, is scheduled to be completed by fall 2020.

Additionally, work on a new Shore Road Park dog run at 100^th Street is scheduled to begin in fall 2020 and be completed by fall 2022. And the 97^th and Shore Road Park loop path will be re-paved and restored so it makes a full lap around the entire park again, with a projected 2021 completion date. Further down the line is the proposed complete renovation of the Shore Road Park Vinland Playground at Shore Road and 94^th Street.

This all follows the completion in June 2019 of the long-awaited ramp in Shore Road Park at 95^th Street, a project that took over two years to finish.

In addition, the tennis courts and parking lot at John J. Carty Park on Fort Hamilton Parkway between 94^th and 101^st streets will be reconstructed this year, with a garden added to the oasis; plus there will be a complete renovation of the adjacent playground between 94^th and 99^th streets.

Across the Gowanus, the asphalt field in Dyker Beach Park will undergo a complete reconstruction beginning in fall 2020.

Further south, construction has already begun on a new comfort station at the Gravesend Calvert Vaux Park that includes new bathrooms, athletic league storage and a park headquarters. The projected completion date is spring 2021.

In Bensonhurst Park, a completely reconstructed playground with an adjacent path and sitting areas is scheduled to be completed by fall 2020.

Other upcoming projects include a resurfacing of the Shore Road Parkway bike path between the Verrazzano Bridge and Ceasar’s Bay that’s scheduled to begin this spring. A complete reconstruction of the playground in Owl’s Head Park at Fourth Avenue and Shore Road is awaiting confirmation of funding.

Additionally, there’s a $5.6 million renovation of Bath Beach Park at Bay 16^th Street and Shore Parkway in the pipeline; that project includes paths, a sitting area, a flagpole, drainage, benches, café seating, lighting and landscaping. Construction is scheduled to start in spring 2021 with an estimated completion date of spring 2022.

“From day one, I have been focused on increasing access to parks and investing in the future of these great, open spaces,” Brannan said. “They really are the soul of our crazy, busy and crowded city.”