A 1921 report of New York City’s Chief Engineer considered the feasibility - structurally, financially, and politically - of constructing a Red Hook shoal island to serve as a protective breakwater.  It was suggested that such an island would not only provided for pier and warehouse development but could also be a place for "a grain elevator, a supply station for oil burning ships, and as a place for the disposal of city waste."

The report went on to say that:

"if the improvement was sanctioned by the Federal Government it would seem practicable to construct the island from waste material as and when available at a small expense in comparison with the value of the property to be reclaimed, which island, it was also shown, might be utilized not only for the purposes suggested by the Commissioner of Docks but also as a site for a sewage treatment plant and for a garbage disposal plant and as an aviation field."

Text from the Report of the chief engineer 1921.

RED HOOK SHOAL ISLAND

Under the provisions of the River and Harbor Act of March 2, 1919, the Secretary of War was directed to make a preliminary examination and survey of Upper New York Bay with a view to the construction of a breakwater for the protection of the Bay Ridge and Red Hook Channels as well as the widening of these channels to a width not exceeding 2,000 feet, with a depth of 40 feet. It was contemplated under the terms of this act that the investigation with respect to the breakwater should also include consideration of any proposition which the City of New York might offer in the matter of reclaiming and filling in Red Hook shoal. This matter was called to the attention of the Board early in 1921 by the Commissioner of Docks, who stated that the United States District Engineer had deferred taking up the investigation pending the submission by the City of some plan for joining in the improvement. He also submitted a map showing the proposed utilization of this shoal by the construction of an island with piers on the easterly side, having a length of 1,000 feet and a width of 150 feet, these being separated by slips 300 feet wide, the island extending from Red Hook Channel southwardly to a point about opposite Bay Ridge Avenue, with provision for a channel 2,000 feet wide, and suggested that the proposed island might, in addition to the incidental pier and warehouse development, be availed of as a site for a grain elevator, a supply station for oil burning ships, and as a place for the disposal of city waste.

In a report addressed to the Committee of the Whole of the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund by the Chief Engineer, to whom the matter was referred, it was pointed out that if the improvement was sanctioned by the Federal Government it would seem practicable to construct the island from waste material as and when available at a small expense in comparison with the value of the property to be reclaimed, which island, it was also shown, might be utilized not only for the purposes suggested by the Commissioner of Docks but also as a site for a sewage treatment plant and for a garbage disposal plant and as an aviation field. Since this time it has also been suggested that the island might be availed of as the headquarters for the lighthouse department in this district in place of the site now used at St. George, thereby clearing the way for the utilization of the latter site by the City in connection with the provision of access from the Stapleton piers to the St. George Ferry. A public hearing was given in the matter by the New York Harbor Line Board on July 6, 1921, at which time the project was favored by the representatives of a very large number of owners of waterfront property along the Brooklyn shore on the ground that it would provide a breakwater much needed for the protection of vessels during periods when they would otherwise be exposed to west and northwest winds sweeping across New York Bay. The only objector among these interests represented the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Company and the Long Island Railroad Company, who stated that the creation of the island would involve the use of a detour on the car float ferry line between Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, and Greenville, New Jersey. In the Chief Engineer's report in this matter, it was suggested that if the improvement was carried out it would seem reasonable to ask the Federal Government to assume the cost of so much of the revetment work as was required for breakwater purposes if the work was first undertaken to meet this need, and that the remaining expense would be assumed by the City, other than the provision of fill incidental to the dredging of the adjoining channels. It was also suggested that in case the first steps toward carrying out the improvement were made by the City, it should assume the entire cost. With the understanding that the New York Harbor Line Board is awaiting a more definite and specific proposition from the City in this matter and that the latter will be contingent upon first securing a grant from the Commissioners of the Land Office of the State of New York which would place the City in possession of title to the land to be re- claimed, steps are being taken toward the formulation of a bill for presentation to the Legislature designed to accomplish this end.