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Piping Plovers Also to Blame for Rockaway Boardwalk Delay, Officials Say

By Katie Honan | April 15, 2016 2:47pm | Updated on April 17, 2016 5:00pm
 A piping plover.
A piping plover.
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Shervin Hess

ROCKAWAY PARK — Days after blaming their most recent boardwalk delay on new crane safety restrictions, officials said there was also another factor — a group of endangered birds that nest miles from the stretch, officials said Friday.

City officials announced this week that the stretch of boardwalk between Beach 108th and Beach 126th streets would not meet its planned Memorial Day opening date, due to new crane regulations following February's deadly accident in Lower Manhattan.

It will now open sometime in July — and most of the beaches in this stretch won't be open until then as construction continues, according to officials.

Heavy winds stopped crane work between Beach 108th and Beach 126th streets on 24 days in February, March and April, according to the EDC. 

But asked why the boardwalk from Beach 60th to Beach 73rd streets would be able to open in time despite the same crane restrictions applying there, officials said Friday that they had to work around the nesting schedule of the area's piping plovers, an endangered species that have nested on Rockaway beaches.

An official with the Economic Development Corporation, the agency overseeing the project, explained that as construction crews on the $480 million project worked simultaneously on various stretches throughout the peninsula, they had to "prioritize" which sections used heavy equipment to accommodate the federal moratorium banning construction around the birds.

The city is "still working to complete the project as soon as possible, amidst changing regulations," but are still eyeing a July open date on the delayed section of the boardwalk, they said.

Politicians slammed the delay, the most recent for the project to rebuild what was destroyed in 2012 by Hurricane Sandy.

"Everyone knows the reconstruction of the boardwalk has been a boondoggle since day one," Councilman Eric Ulrich said in a statement.

"This administration has failed to deliver on its promise to help Hurricane Sandy victims time and time again. Let's hope the voters remember this in 2017."