In October 2015, NYC Housing Preservation and Development invited 596 Acres to be a community partner on the Resilient Edgemere Community Planning Initiative, an initiative to drive the revision of the Edgemere Urban Renewal Area Plan. This planning effort built on conversations 596 Acres started with residents, nonprofits and city agencies about updating the active Edgemere Urban Renewal Area Plan immediately following Hurricane Sandy’s devastation in 2012.

At a series of public workshops and meetings, 596 Acres advocated that resident-led campaigns to create community gardens be included in the plan. We also amplified residents’ demands for a community land trust to allow long-term community stewardship of land.

We are thrilled that the final version of the Resilient Edgemere Community Plan, published this week, includes the Edgemere Coalition Community Garden at Beach 43rd Street, identifies community gardens as a strategy for communities to adapt to increased flood risk, and includes a community land trust as strategy to facilitate long-term affordability and resilient stewardship.

596 Acres is pleased to see the City embrace community land access as a strategy for a more resilient Edgemere and NYC. The open space recommendations made in Resilient Edgemere will be incorporated in an amendment to the Edgemere Urban Renewal Area Plan that Housing Preservation and Development will sponsor for the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) in 2019.

596 Acres has been supporting community land access on the Rockaway peninsula since 2012, was instrumental in Hurricane Sandy relief efforts, and in drawing attention to the Active Edgemere Urban Renewal Plan. Read the Resilient Edgemere Community plan at http://www1.nyc.gov/site/hpd/community/Edgemere.page.