Scenic Hudson, keepers of Long Dock Park, the manmade peninsula that "connects the river's power and majesty" with people, pets and wildlife, will be presenting plans to enhance Long Dock Park to Beacon's Planning Board on Tuesday, August 9, at 7pm, in the hopes of securing a site plan in order to move forward. Plans in the proposal include:

• infrastructure for food trucks
• a shaded plaza for informal dining
• shade pavilions, lawns and a native-plant meadow
• a boardwalk and river overlook deck

Designers of the park upgrades will be at the meeting should the public wish to meet them. This meeting is not open to public comment, but a future meeting may offer that opportunity. People who want this project to move forward are encouraged to attend the meeting to show support.

Long Dock Park was a critical 19th-century transportation link between New England and points west, and once contained a rail-ferry terminal, warehouses and other buildings. More recently, it was home to an oil terminal, a salt-storage facility and a junkyard. Scenic Hudson has been responsible for removing all traces of that land's commercial and industrial past, and designing the infrastructure used today, including a kayak pavilion and beach for launching boats, rehabilitated wetlands and meadows that attract wildlife, and the restored, historic Red Barn, now Scenic Hudson's River Center for arts and environmental-education activities.