Redesign For St. Catherine's Park Approved By UES Community Board

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — One month after initially presenting plans for St. Catherine's Park, a beloved recreational spot in Lenox Hill, to the community, the architect overseeing the renovation returned to the board with further updates.

The new concessions were unveiled earlier this month to Community Board 8, as Christopher Crowley and Ricardo Hinkle of the Parks Department presented updated details of the park's planned renovation.

After soliciting public feedback last summer, the city is now rolling out its proposed $9 million redesign, which will center on making enhancements to the current structures while adding additional safety measures.

Crowley, a landscape architect with the Parks Department, said that the new design proposal was intended to address critiques raised by community members following the initial design reveal in May.

Changes include removing two of the basketball courts and one of the proposed pickleball courts, allowing more space on the park's multi-use court.

Some community members expressed worry about the court back in May, saying that it could pit the interests of pickleball fans and other parkgoers against each other, forcing them to fight over the limited space.

However, after the presentation, some residents still expressed frustration over the new layout, arguing that their concerns regarding the multi-use court were not addressed. Specifically, resident Elizabeth Dew stated that the community wants separate designated spaces for both basketball and pickleball rather than sharing a court space.

In response, Crowley explained that due to limited recreation space in neighboring streets, the goal was to maximize recreational activities within St. Catherine's Park by implementing and maintaining a multi-use court.

Crowley also noted that community members had expressed discomfort with lowering the fence line of the park to eight feet, especially around the court area. Families had concerns about balls potentially going over the fence and hitting children on the other side of the playground.

The new design plan instead sets the fence line around the courts at 12 feet and 15 feet as a compromise, Crowley explained.

In other areas of the park, Crowley said they will still install a four-foot fence, replacing the existing one, which, as he notes, currently lacks parallel alignment along the park's boundaries.

NYPD Officer Brian Larkin, assigned to the 19th precinct, spoke at the meeting and requested that the Parks Department retain both interior gates at 67th and 68th Streets. The current design plan proposes removing the gate at 68th Street, a feature that neighbors have critiqued.

In the final resolution approved by the board, the two interior gates will remain in their current positions.

Spanning First Avenue between 67th and 68th Streets, St. Catherine's Park dates back to the 1930s and was reconstructed in 1941 as part of the New Deal's Works Progress Administration relief program, according to livingnewdeal.org.

According to the NYC Parks website, the layout of the park mimics that of the Santa Maria sopra Minerva church, located in Rome, which houses the remains of St. Catherine. A flagpole represents the altar; play areas are the pews; and the elephant sprinklers are an adaptation of a sculpture that resides in front of the Roman church.

Construction is expected to last about a year once it begins, though Crowley could not provide an exact start date.