{"id":56261,"date":"2025-11-30T12:43:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-30T12:43:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/56261\/"},"modified":"2025-11-30T12:43:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-30T12:43:07","slug":"3-6m-playground-renovation-stalled-for-nearly-two-years-due-to-surprising-underground-discovery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/56261\/","title":{"rendered":"$3.6M playground renovation stalled for nearly two years due to surprising underground discovery"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"T2DNUGGCHBFSFOTA4LQ46UROQQ\">STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 South Shore City Councilmember Frank Morano has provided an update to the Advance\/SILive.com about the delayed completion of PS 8\u2019s playground renovations. <\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"CAMUI6LCRRC2PIKQ6LJ7UF75F4\">The $3.6 million reconstruction project broke ground <a href=\"https:\/\/www.silive.com\/news\/2024\/02\/nyc-breaks-ground-on-36m-staten-island-playground-reconstruction.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">in February 2024<\/a> and was initially expected to be completed in the fall of that same year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"7Z46MQJS4ZFGXFKQXSSOXSQBDM\">\u201cThis is a project that began before I was in office and I\u2019m catching up with now, but I\u2019m very eager to see it brought to fruition,\u201d Morano said. <\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"V5GB2MXRTZD7RHQ37IDAWPUPCM\">Morano explained that the holdup with the project is due to an underground discovery made during the renovations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"Y3P3J244N5BFTN6FHCW7RE2JFA\">\u201cThe unmapped infrastructure that was found during excavation needs to be properly replaced in order to not cause water issues in the future for the park and surrounding neighbors,\u201d Morano explained. \u201cThe bureaucracy involved in situations like this is\u2026 It\u2019s more than most people could fathom and it\u2019s something that I\u2019m working to address, and for future projects, I\u2019d like to avoid lengthy closures like this.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"low\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"PS 8\" class=\"article__image-content\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1764506587_220_HTYBPZZQ5VHJ3H2JTG3MX3X2XM.JPEG\"  \/>PS 8&#8217;s playground has been under construction for over a year, and it&#8217;s not clear when it will be completed. (Advance\/SILive.com | Jan Somma-Hammel)Jan Somma-Hammel<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"PEHJBFZ2UNHELJOWHCB2KZ4R4M\">While Morano couldn\u2019t confirm a new anticipated completion date, he said he will continue to monitor the situation. <\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"K7XLJZKDLVGIRN3RJ4XC4GTNGU\">In mid-November, a School Construction Authority spokesperson <a href=\"https:\/\/www.silive.com\/news\/2025\/11\/36m-staten-island-school-playground-renovation-stalled-more-than-a-year.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.silive.com\/news\/2025\/11\/36m-staten-island-school-playground-renovation-stalled-more-than-a-year.html\">told the Advance\/SILive.com<\/a> that the agency is continuing to work with its partners in government to secure the necessary approvals for the project.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"H2TMPES225E3ZMNU6W2V6HXH3I\">The project is slated to include new play equipment, pavement, fences, gates, drains and a handrail path between the school and the playground.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"EQVVKHUKRBERNG2JE55KVMRG6I\">The playground \u201cis an important place for recreation for both students at PS 8 and other local children. These continued enhancements to our playgrounds and green spaces provide safe spaces for children to play after school and help bring communities closer together,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.silive.com\/news\/2024\/02\/nyc-breaks-ground-on-36m-staten-island-playground-reconstruction.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.silive.com\/news\/2024\/02\/nyc-breaks-ground-on-36m-staten-island-playground-reconstruction.html\">former Parks Borough Commissioner Lynda Ricciardone said at the groundbreaking ceremony.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"PJR5ZTX6LFAIPMWJL4B2K4CONE\">\u201cThis park functions as a major hub for the children of P.S. 8 and the many families living nearby. Once completed this fall, the park will be safer and have improved play equipment for everyone utilizing it daily. I am proud to be able to fund this project and see it finally coming to fruition,\u201d added former Councilmember Joe Borelli.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 South Shore City Councilmember Frank Morano has provided an update to the Advance\/SILive.com about&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":43468,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[9,24,63,134,136,135],"class_list":{"0":"post-56261","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-staten-island","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-city","10":"tag-nyc","11":"tag-staten-island","12":"tag-staten-island-headlines","13":"tag-staten-island-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56261"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56261\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}