Parks Advocates Sue To Block Natural History Museum Expansion

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — Opponents of the American Museum of Natural History's expansion plan are suing the city, the Parks Department and the museum in order to block the $325 million project.

The Community United to Protect Theodore Roosevelt Park filed a lawsuit in March claiming that the Parks Department incorrectly interpreted a 142-year-old law when it approved the American Museum of Natural History's plan to build a new facility called the Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation, according to court documents.

The non-profit advocacy group's lawsuit claims that the expansion project will "not only result in the loss of public parkland comprising cherished greenspaces in Theodore Roosevelt Park, but worse, the Project, if completed, would cause catastrophic environmental damage to the area, posing a series of life-threatening health hazards to residents of, and visitors to, the Upper West Side of Manhattan."

The $325 Gilder Center will expand the American Museum of Natural History's footprint into Theodore Roosevelt Park by a quarter-acre, according to museum plans. The new six-story facility will add a total of 245,000 square feet of space to the American Museum of Natural History, according to plans filed with the Department of Buildings.

The Community United to Protect Theodore Roosevelt Park argues that the city was incorrect to approve the plan without initiating the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP), a public approvals process for new developments and land use actions. This determination was made by an incorrect understanding of an 142-year-old statue, the group claims.

The city Parks Department cites the Act of 1876 in its statement of findings regarding the museum's expansion as justification for not initiating a public review of the project. The Parks Department files suggest the statute sets aside the entirety of Theodore Roosevelt Park — which spans West 77th to 81st streets between Columbus Avenue and Central Park West — for the museum and authorizes the department to enter into contract with the museum "granting the Museum exclusive use of the buildings erected or to be erected in the park." Because the project takes place on city parkland it does not adhere to the city zoning resolution, the department writes in its findings.

The Community United to Protect Theodore Roosevelt Park is asking a Manhattan judge to vacate the Parks Department's approval of the expansion due to its incorrect interpretation of the statute. The group claims that the statute does not grant the museum control over the entire Theodore Roosevelt Park, only the portion occupied by the museum's original structure.

A city Law Department spokesman said the department will review the lawsuit and that the city "stands by its approval of the Museum’s expansion plans and its environmental review."

The American Museum of Natural History plans to complete the Gilder Center open by 2020 for the museum's 150th anniversary celebration. A spokesman for the museum declined to comment on the pending litigation, but said "at a time when science literacy has never been more important the Gilder Center will provide significant new capacity to enhance the public understanding of science."

Photo courtesy Ralph Appelbaum Associates