Should Liberty State Park add amusement rides, apartments, and hotels?

The state Department of Environmental Protection's has made public a 44-page appendix to an 18-page report it released earlier this week that suggested private development in portions of Liberty State Park.

JERSEY CITY -- The state Department of Environmental Protection's has made public a 44-page appendix to an 18-page report it released earlier this week that suggested private development in portions of Liberty State Park.

The report includes more detail on the originally stated proposals.

RELATED: Hotel, marina among proposals for Liberty State Park

"Liberty State Park is the crown jewel of the New Jersey state parks system. It received 3 million visitors per year, including about 700,000 to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island," the new report begins. "And yet, Liberty State Park has the potential to be much more. The park is underutilized ... and there's little to no money for public programming and new amenities."

The DEP's originally released report included proposals to develop 38 of the park's 1,600 acres, suggested by the state's consultant Biederman Redevelopment Ventures. It was created in the hopes of making the park financially self-sufficient, per Gov. Chris Christie's 2011 call for sustainable state park funding strategies, the consultant said.

The newly released appendix report looks at the challenges each proposal would face and breaks down expected revenues. It cites a need for a new parking lot or garage in the north zone, and enhanced access to downtown Jersey City via a pedestrian bridge across the Morris Canal Basin.

Here are the big proposals:

• The north zone's crumbling train shed: could be replaced by a private low rise hotel, or partly renovated by a private developer to include "brick-for-brick recreations of famous restaurants from all over New Jersey" arranged in the concourse. ("We are unaware of any similar attraction anywhere," the developers said, and this could put the park "on the map.") Otherwise, the shed could become a national museum of transportation and technology, urban art, or immigration, with renovations coming thanks to private donations and fundraising.
• The north zone's terminal building: could be repurposed as an events and conference center leased to an adjacent, private hotel, or a private catering/event hall, combined with art studio/gallery spaces and a small movie house showing art films and independent movies for the public. 
• Fields north and south of train buildings, and marina-controlled field: Private development of low-rise apartments and town homes, perhaps through a PILOT program with the government, or low-rise hotels with ground leases on the park land.
• The central zone, where most public events are held: Consultants suggest fully or partially privatizing the area's marketing to bring in more events and concerts. They also suggested enhanced daily public programming, like fitness classes, lectures and talks, live theatre and film festivals, crafts workshops and magic shows, and concerts; new areas for board games and lawn games and reading room; a fitness equipment cart; and an "imagination play ground" for kids. These programs would be made aided by private partnerships.
• The park's southern area: an amusement park (either a privately operated seasonal children's park, like a "really nice carnival," or year-round park for all ages like LegoLand or Coney Island); a privately developed and leased 100,000 square foot field house for indoor sports, with parking; an amphitheater for up to 6,000 people; and/or a privately developed/operated boathouse, with concession stands offering kayaks and canoes. A Formula One racetrack has also been considered, but wasn't recommended.
• The inner, contaminated region of the park: 240 acres will be be rehabilitated by the DEP and feature trails.

After the original plan was issued Tuesday, it was denounced by park advocates, environmentalists and Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop, who called it "an attack" on Liberty State Park and "an attack on the quality of life for all residents."

"Liberty State Park is for picnics, not privatization," Friends of Liberty State Park President Sam Pesin said at a protest in May. "The governor and DEP came up with this wrongheaded sustainable parks strategy where they wanted parks to pay for themselves. Parks shouldn't pay for themselves."