Opponents of the plan to replace Coney Island’s boardwalk boards with plastic and concrete had made the case that the city had run afoul of its own process by failing to carry out an environmental review, but on Monday a judge ruled that no such review was needed because the plan “does not involve substantial changes to the existing structure.” Er, except for that it would be made out of plastic and concrete. The new materials, he ruled, do not “constitute an impairment of the character or quality of important historical, archeological, architectural, or aesthetic resources or of existing community or neighborhood character.” So a planned five-block plastic and wood section can go ahead. After Hurricane Sandy, Mayor Michael Bloomberg made his thoughts on the matter clear: “There will be no more wooden boardwalks in Rockaway or anywhere else.”
