Island Redevelopment
In 1967 the City of New Rochelle purchased Davids’ Island, initially using it for the site of a summer camp for New Rochelle youth. In 1968 Consolidated Edison Company (Con Ed) purchased the Island for three million dollars, with a view to building a nuclear power plant there. Con Ed dropped these plans in 1973 and resold the island to New Rochelle in 1976 for $1. In 1977 following 10 years of neglect, New Rochelle designated the island with its remnants of Fort Slocum, as an urban renewal area.
Xanadu Properties Associates proposed to redevelop Davids’ Island in 1981. Their plans included the construction of a bridge, breakwater for an 800-boat marina, and 2,000 luxury condominium units. However, because of the grand scale of Xanadu’s plans, the proposed development was highly controversial among the public. In 1987 a conservation group called Save Davids’ Island for the Citizens, composed of neighboring property owners and concerned Westchester County residents, formed to oppose Xanadu. Further opposition came from state officials concerned about the potential lack of general public access to shoreline areas. In 1992 the City of New Rochelle opted not to extend Xanadu’s status as the designated developer for Davids’ Island and instead sought new proposals. In response, developer Donald Trump briefly pursued the opportunity to redevelop the island, but the plans were cancelled while still preliminary.
The ruins of Fort Slocum continued to occupy Davids’ Island into the beginning of the 21st century. The ruins were among the factors complicating redevelopment of the island. Beginning in 2004, however, Congress appropriated funds to remove the ruins through a Defense Department program that assists communities in reusing former defense facilities. During the summer of 2008, the city of New Rochelle demolished all remaining structures on the island, including the iconic water tower on the northern end of the island, with plans to turn the island into a park.
Read more about this topic: Davids' Island (New York)
Famous quotes containing the word island:
“I ... would rather be in dependance on Great Britain, properly limited, than on any nation upon earth, or than on no nation. But I am one of those too who rather than submit to the right of legislating for us assumed by the British parliament, and which late experience has shewn they will so cruelly exercise, would lend my hand to sink the whole island in the ocean.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)