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Landmarks Approves Peck Slip Plan The Landmarks Preservation Commission approved a design for a park at Peck Slip that strikes a delicate compromise between residents who wanted a lush green park and those who argued that a stone “piazza” would be more in keeping with the area’s maritime past.
The board, which is advisory to the Landmarks Commission, unanimously rejected the design, with many residents complaining it favored the “piazza” contingent. The Parks Department argued that they were constrained by rules restricting greenery in historic districts. Speaker Sheldon Silver’s office intervened last month, and a compromise was hammered out in meetings that brought together residents, CB1 members, Parks Department and City Planning officials, and the landscape architecture firm Quennel Rothschild. The redesign, which covers the portion of the Slip from Water to South Streets now used for parking, calls for a vaguely boat-shaped plaza that broadens as it approaches South Street. This plaza is smaller than in the original design, and plantings and trees have been expanded on the west. Steel “rib” elements, which some had complained were “uninviting,” will now be covered in wood. The rest of the design, including a small pool of water at the plaza’s “prow,” and granite block laid in a manner meant to evoke a flowing stream, would remain unchanged.
“I have very grave concerns,” said board member Paul Hovitz. “There’s just been some greenery added to the outskirts. And that horrendous skeleton of a ship remains as a focal point.” “How many square feet of grass are in that park?” asked board member Joe Lerner. None, replied the Parks Department. “To me, that’s not a park!” said Lerner. Paul Goldstein, who heads Silver’s district office, reminded the board that both the LPC and State Then, on April 24, it came before the LPC. Representatives from three elected officials and four preservation groups took the opportunity to weigh in, as did five residents. Their opinions on the design ranged from lukewarm support to virulent disgust. Most disapproved of the greenery. The commissioners themselves had only minor complaints, and the design was unanimously approved. But the story may not be over. Mark Peckham, an official from SHPO, which must also approve the design because it is within a National Registered district, spoke of “serious concerns” over the trees, the granite curbs, the “ribs” and the park’s curvilinear lines. “We wonder if we can’t achieve the same ends by working some of the details out,” he said.
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