Freshkills Park Features

Rivers run through a lush green hillside in a large park

At 2,200 acres, Freshkills Park will be almost three times the size of Central Park and the largest park developed in New York City in over 100 years. Formerly the world’s largest landfill, this enormous park will one day hold a variety of public spaces and facilities, including playgrounds, athletic fields, kayak launches, horseback riding trails, large-scale art installations, and much more.  The park is being built, and is scheduled to be opened in phases, through 2036.

The Freshkills Park Alliance supports the development of Freshkills Park, the growth of on-site research and education, guided tours, the arts, and recreational programming. Visit the Freshkills Park Alliance website for more information.

Visit

Several parts of the park are now open to the public. You can visit those locations below, or get a preview of the site through tours and events, including kayaking and birding.

If you’d like to schedule a group tour, press tour, education program, or presentation, visit the Freshkills Park Alliance tours page.

people kayaking at Freshkills Park

Progress

Schmul Park

This perimeter park serves as an entryway to the larger Freshkills Park. It has handball and basketball courts as well as a unique playground with plenty of climbing equipment. It opened in September 2012.

Learn more

A city playground in fall. There is climbing equipment and pleasing brickwork near single-family homes.

Owl Hollow Fields

Owl Hollow Fields, located on Arthur Kill Road, opened in May 2013. The fields consist of four soccer fields, a pathway, parking, and lawn space.

An empty soccer field with bright lines and green grass in the middle of a wooded forest.

New Springville Greenway

This 3.3 mile multiuse path winds along the eastern edge of Freshkills Park, paralleling Richmond Avenue. The greenway opened in August 2015.

A row of elected officials hold up a ribbon and cheer on a podium in a grassy field.

North Park Phase 1

North Park offers a glimpse into the development of the larger Freshkills Park. Visitors can enter the 21-acre park at Wild Ave and East Service Road, or through Schmul Park. North Park Phase 1 opened in October 2023, and is open daily from 6:00 a.m. – 10:00p.m. Amenities include a parking lot, composting public restroom, multi-use pathway, picnic area, and bike stations. It also has overlook structures including a bird tower with great views of Main Creek and the William T. Davis Wildlife Refuge.

A stream runs through a green, grassy landscape with rolling hills and a thin paved road. Cars, buildings, and other city infrastructure are not in sight.

Park Features

ospreys at Freshkills Park

Programming

Freshkills Park hosts many types of social, cultural, and recreational activities, including running, cycling, adaptive horseback riding, mountain biking, kayaking, bird watching, yoga, and large-scale public art.

Wildlife

Freshkills Park is one of the largest native grasslands in the northeast United States. Freshkills Park supports richly diverse habitats for wildlife, birds and plant communities, and provides extraordinary natural settings for recreation. Since the landfill was closed, more than 200 species of birds, mammals, reptiles, and amphibians have been documented at Freshkills Park. North Park Phase 1 has a bird observation tower, and wetland overlook deck offering majestic views of wildlife.

Public Health and Safety at Freshkills Park

Ensuring the health and safety of visitors to Freshkills Park is our highest priority. The Department of Sanitation has established state-of-the-art environmental controls on the site, making it a model for cities around the world for land reclamation and reuse.

The park’s mounds are capped with an impermeable plastic liner and eight additional layers of barrier material to separate the ground we touch and the landfill beneath it. There are several systems in place to manage the landfill gas and leachate byproducts – some are visible, such as the white stacks of the Flare Stations, but most are invisible, such as the extensive network of piping and drainage channels.

The site is regulated and overseen by government agencies at the federal, state, and local levels to ensure that the quality of its air, water, and soil are at safe levels for the public to enjoy the park now and in the future. Read more about the landfill engineering on the Freshkills Park Alliance website.

Public Review

From the beginning of the Parks Master Planning process, through the ongoing development and build out of each part of the park, the environmental and public review process continues. Visit the Public Review of Freshkills Park page for an archive of public review documents.