OSWEGO, N.Y. (WSYR-TV) — You ask, we answer!

Viewer Joseph Harrington reached back out to the Your Stories Team with a complaint about Sheldon Beach, also known as Flat Rock.

Harrington, who originally asked about the park’s status last summer, said the work that had been done to the park by the City of Oswego was far from what was originally proposed.

Exactly one year ago, the City of Oswego sent this release, touting Sheldon Beach would undergo a transformation. It would go from a vacant gravel lot to a public park that all could enjoy.

Sheldon Beach is located off of 6th Avenue between the Oswego Steam Station and SUNY Oswego campus.

“The $150,000 project will consist of a parking area, the installation of green space, a walking trail to the waterfront known as “Flat Rock”, new public restroom facilities and seating picnic areas. The city will also repave 6th Avenue leading to the new park,” The May 2022 release said.

Sheldon Beach rendering.

When the city announced the project, it was originally supposed to take seven weeks. Last fall, when we did a story on the park’s progress, Mayor Barlow said that work had been delayed because the city was in the process of building a skate park on the East Linear Riverwalk on Canal Street.

At that time, he said the park’s transformation should be completed by late October.

Fast forward to this week, the YS Team spoke with Mayor Barlow about the park. He said the project was just about finished. He said sod had been laid and in the coming weeks a sign with the beach’s name and an oversized decorative chair would be installed.

After the conversation with the mayor, a NewsChannel 9 photographer captured video of where the park was said to be located.

The video showed a paved lot, some large rocks near the shoreline, but other features mentioned in the original press release were missing.

We reached out several times to Mayor Barlow to get a response as to why the park is lacking some of the features mentioned in the proposal and how the current condition of the park now looks different from the rendering the city promoted last spring.

Our calls and texts have gone unanswered.

As soon as we get an update from the Mayor we will update this story.

For now, the Sheldon Beach does appear open to the public.

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