Dragon boats pushed from NYC bay: ‘We don’t know what’s going to happen now’

The city’s iconic dragon-boat community just had its hopes sunk, with a pier rehab forcing it out of Flushing Bay next summer — and potentially thwarting it for decades to come.

The city Parks Department last month warned the thousands of boaters — who are keeping alive an ancient Chinese tradition — that they would not be able to set sail anymore from the World’s Fair Marina in Queens starting in May — and it’s unclear when they might be able to resume.

The agency determined that a series of floating docks the dragon boaters had been using for the past eight years posed public safety concerns, a rep for the agency told The Post.

The city had deployed the temporary solution back in 2016 after discovering that the 87-year-old Pier 1 was suffering from widespread deterioration, but now even that alternative has been deemed a hazard.

Meanwhile, the project to completely remedy the pier has been locked up for years over funding issues. More than $13 million from the city and FEMA has been allocated for the project so far, but the Parks Department could not put a number on the full scope of the project because it is still lingering in the design phase.

A report from the Mayor’s Office of Management & Budget estimated that upgrades to the marina’s docks would not come until the 2030s, with other aspects of the pier not seeing improvements until the 2050s.

“Dragon boating is a fixture of Flushing Bay,” said Judd Faulkner, a rep for the Parks Department, in a statement. “NYC Parks has worked closely with the dragon boating community for decades and we remain committed to providing safe, dedicated dockage space with accessible dock fees for recreational boaters throughout Queens and New York City.

“Parks has provided boaters with a list of 36 alternative marinas in the area and we understand that many boaters, including some of the dragon boat teams, have made dockage arrangements at several of these sites,” the representative said.

But at least some members of the dragon-boating community say they feel abandoned by the city — and fear it will be decades before they are able to fully return to their home at Flushing Bay.

“If we don’t come up with a solution in the marina, the big question that’s being raised is, ‘What happens to the New York City dragon boating?’ ” boater Greg Chang, 56, told THE CITY, who first reported the eviction.

Chang said he worries that the boaters’ absence would leave room for developers to move in closer to the waterway.

“We need to be here, and we plan on pursuing all possible avenues to remain here,” he said.

Roughly 20 clubs and 60 teams use Flushing Bay — including many members who compete for Team USA. Dragon boating is not an official Olympic sport — at least yet — but it was demonstrated with fanfare at the 2024 Summer Games in Paris.

Fortunately, nearby Meadow Lake is also a popular dragon-boating spot, participants say. It will host the 34th annual Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival in August, with organizers promising that the Flushing Bay pier renovation will not impact the two-day competition.

But the lake, also run by the Parks Department, is one of just a few viable options for the boating community — which notes the hefty price of using private space otherwise. Some private sites run as high as $10,000 per year to boat out of, compared to the $1,000 price tag that comes with using the public bay.

Other facilities such as the nearby Bayside Marina are closed down for reconstruction.

Many boaters expressed heartbreak at being forced out of the waterway they’ve called home for decades.

“It’s been 30-plus years since we’ve been in our own playground at the World’s Fair Marina. We’ve paddled through debris, we’ve paddled through sewage. And after a heavy rain, you’re gonna discover dead rats floating around,” retired public school teacher Good Jean Lau, 74, told the outlet.

Alan Lee of the United East Athletics Association team met his wife, a Team USA member, aboard a dragon boat in Flushing Bay in 2008. Now the couple fear they won’t be able to pass along their passion to their children.

“Our son is now 7, and he’s come on the boat a couple of times. My wife showed him some basics, and he caught on very quickly — he absolutely loves it,” Lee, 44, said.

“We had hoped to get him involved in dragon boats over time, but we don’t know what’s going to happen now.”