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Red Hook's Cobblestone Streets May Get Paved Over in $5.2 Million Plan

By Nikhita Venugopal | October 16, 2015 6:30pm | Updated on October 18, 2015 4:00pm
 The stones paved into the street near Valentino Pier in Red Hook.
The stones paved into the street near Valentino Pier in Red Hook.
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DNAinfo/Amy Langfield

RED HOOK — Red Hook's community board is urging the city to maintain the neighborhood's cobblestone streets near Valentino Pier rather than pave over them as part of a preliminary plan to reconstruct the roads calls for. 

The Department of Transportation is proposing a $5.2 million capital improvement project for Ferris Street between King and Van Dyke streets and Beard Street between Otsego and Conover streets.

The plan includes a new two-lane bike path, improving poor sidewalk conditions and adding tree pits to the streets, according to a presentation from The RBA Group to CB6's transportation committee Thursday night.

"The full roadway reconstruction was going to remove the cobbles," a DOT representative said at the meeting.

But the CB6 committee reminded the team that Red Hook's cobblestone streets needed to be maintained even though they could not be protected by law since neighborhood is not a historic district.

Years ago, "the community board went on record that we want the cobblestones left in Red Hook," CB member Jerry Armer said.

Following the preliminary design phase, DOT will have to begin its search for funding since the project is currently unfunded. 

"Honestly this may not get built in the near future," the DOT rep said.

The city is also developing a long-term plan for the streets that's dependent on future residential development.

The committee unanimously approved the plan with the condition of maintaining and restoring the cobblestones on the streets.