CB1 Approves BPC Dog Run; Some Residents Howl in Protest

Tempers flared at last month’s meeting of Community Board 1. Some in the audience heckled from the back of the room, while others scolded them for being rude. One woman called the board "dictatorial." A man said he might sue. The board’s chairwoman, Madelyn Wils, threatened to call security.

Once again, dogs were on the agenda.

The conflict was over a plan to create a permanent dog run on Monsignor Kowsky Plaza in Battery Park City, between the Gateway Plaza residential complex and the North Cove marina. CB1’s Battery Park City Committee approved the plan on May 7, over the objections of some Gateway residents.

The 3,000-square-foot dog run would be built on the plaza above the police memorial, encompassing what is now a toddler playground. The playground would be moved west to the "bosk" area overlooking the esplanade, where there are now benches and trees, and expanded more than eightfold.

A year and a half ago, the Battery Park City Authority presented a plan to put the dog run in the bosk, 15 feet from a Gateway building, but residents objected, fearing noise and the dogs’ proximity to the playground.

Recently, a task force that included BPC Committee Chairman Anthony Notaro, Gateway residents, the BPC Authority and Parks Conservancy, and the dog run’s architect, failed to identify an alternate site acceptable to the Authority, but came up with the new design.

The newly proposed dog run would be more than 100 feet from Gateway. Trees and a trellis on its southern border would muffle noise, and new plantings would adorn the plaza.

"It took lots of work and addresses many concerns," Notaro said when he presented the plan to the full community board. "The plaza will be improved."

But about a dozen Gateway residents showed up to protest the plan.

"The dog run should not be under residents’ windows, in front of a chapel and next to the police memorial," said Judith Fox Miller, a first-floor resident of Gateway 500. Others complained that residents weren’t consulted.

Some speakers supported the proposal. "They’ve done a wonderful job with the design," said Susan McNamara, who also lives in Gateway 500.

The board finally voted 31–2 to approve the plan. Construction is expected to be completed next May.