According to an article yesterday in Chelsea Now by Diane Vacca, next month "a task force consisting of the Port Authority, the Parks Department, the Hudson Yards Community Advisory Committee and the Department of Transportation will reconvene to work on ways to green Dyer Ave. from 34th to 41st Sts."
The city will fund the project, with the goal of making the stretch both safe and green, according to the article:
"Hell's Kitchen has very few parks, and none between 30th and 42nd Sts. To remedy that lack of open space, the 2005 Hudson Yards rezoning plan envisioned bridges or platforms supporting green spaces to be built over the part of Dyer Ave. that runs from 34th to 41st Sts. As part of a plan to build a garage for commuter buses in the area, a ribbon of parks was to have wound through the neighborhood, replacing various parking lots owned by the Port Authority."
"But those were halcyon days compared to the harsh reality of the current economic climate. The plan for the bus garage has been tabled for the time being, and consequently the Port Authority still needs its parcels and can't relinquish them to make way for parks. The platforms were to have been funded by private developers, who in exchange would have earned the right to increase their building heights. That plan, however, is on indefinite hold because no one is building," the article continued.
City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who represents Chelsea and Hell's Kitchen, asked the city, according to the article, to make good on its promises by finding a way to green the bleak landscape that has remained hostile and unwelcoming to pedestrians, residents and drivers entering Manhattan from the tunnel.
In order to support that negotiation, the Hell's Kitchen Neighborhood Association redrafted the 2005 plan, identifying lots not currently in use and incorporating them into a revised green necklace. In July, Community Board 4 requested the implementation of a new design for a series of small parks.
Next month, The "canoe," officially known as the 36th St. Greenstreet Island Park, will kick off the project. What is currently the sidewalk on the north side of 36th St. between Ninth and Dyer Aves. will be designated a plaza. At present, traffic traveling south down Ninth Ave. makes a right turn onto a ramp just before 36th St., and then heading north to flow into the middle tube of the Lincoln Tunnel. Police vehicles now park headfirst on the sidewalk between the north side of 36th Street and the access ramp.
The Department of Transportation has proposed relocating the police parking and taking over the parking lane and Community Board 4 has proposed incorporating the triangular, striped areas at the two intersections at either end of the sidewalk, giving the resulting park or plaza a shape resembling a canoe: a horizontal strip bookended with two peaks. No lanes for moving traffic will be impacted or eliminated, and the location of the pedestrian crossing remains to be determined.
Even before the "canoe," the first phase of the plan--tree planting--will be implemented. In addition to the existing 212 trees, another 425 will be planted.
The second phase of the plan involves the acquisition by eminent domain of the small, grade-level parcels on both sides of Dyer Ave. between 35th and 36th Sts. for conversion to public parks.
Aspects of the third phase include making the stretch completely ADA compliant and providing safe pedestrian access to the park.
Plans for 39th St. between Ninth and 10th Aves. include the creation of the Hell's Kitchen Community Garden on the east side of 10th Ave. and the re-opening of Bird Park, which has been closed due to adjacent construction. Its renovation will include new fencing, gating, seating, lighting, water supply and replanting of the grounds.
The city will fund the project, with the goal of making the stretch both safe and green, according to the article:
"Hell's Kitchen has very few parks, and none between 30th and 42nd Sts. To remedy that lack of open space, the 2005 Hudson Yards rezoning plan envisioned bridges or platforms supporting green spaces to be built over the part of Dyer Ave. that runs from 34th to 41st Sts. As part of a plan to build a garage for commuter buses in the area, a ribbon of parks was to have wound through the neighborhood, replacing various parking lots owned by the Port Authority."
"But those were halcyon days compared to the harsh reality of the current economic climate. The plan for the bus garage has been tabled for the time being, and consequently the Port Authority still needs its parcels and can't relinquish them to make way for parks. The platforms were to have been funded by private developers, who in exchange would have earned the right to increase their building heights. That plan, however, is on indefinite hold because no one is building," the article continued.
City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who represents Chelsea and Hell's Kitchen, asked the city, according to the article, to make good on its promises by finding a way to green the bleak landscape that has remained hostile and unwelcoming to pedestrians, residents and drivers entering Manhattan from the tunnel.
In order to support that negotiation, the Hell's Kitchen Neighborhood Association redrafted the 2005 plan, identifying lots not currently in use and incorporating them into a revised green necklace. In July, Community Board 4 requested the implementation of a new design for a series of small parks.
Next month, The "canoe," officially known as the 36th St. Greenstreet Island Park, will kick off the project. What is currently the sidewalk on the north side of 36th St. between Ninth and Dyer Aves. will be designated a plaza. At present, traffic traveling south down Ninth Ave. makes a right turn onto a ramp just before 36th St., and then heading north to flow into the middle tube of the Lincoln Tunnel. Police vehicles now park headfirst on the sidewalk between the north side of 36th Street and the access ramp.
The Department of Transportation has proposed relocating the police parking and taking over the parking lane and Community Board 4 has proposed incorporating the triangular, striped areas at the two intersections at either end of the sidewalk, giving the resulting park or plaza a shape resembling a canoe: a horizontal strip bookended with two peaks. No lanes for moving traffic will be impacted or eliminated, and the location of the pedestrian crossing remains to be determined.
Even before the "canoe," the first phase of the plan--tree planting--will be implemented. In addition to the existing 212 trees, another 425 will be planted.
The second phase of the plan involves the acquisition by eminent domain of the small, grade-level parcels on both sides of Dyer Ave. between 35th and 36th Sts. for conversion to public parks.
Aspects of the third phase include making the stretch completely ADA compliant and providing safe pedestrian access to the park.
Plans for 39th St. between Ninth and 10th Aves. include the creation of the Hell's Kitchen Community Garden on the east side of 10th Ave. and the re-opening of Bird Park, which has been closed due to adjacent construction. Its renovation will include new fencing, gating, seating, lighting, water supply and replanting of the grounds.
Architecture Critic
Carter Horsley
Since 1997, Carter B. Horsley has been the editorial director of CityRealty. He began his journalistic career at The New York Times in 1961 where he spent 26 years as a reporter specializing in real estate & architectural news. In 1987, he became the architecture critic and real estate editor of The New York Post.
6sqft delivers the latest on real estate, architecture, and design, straight from New York City.
