Holding Parks To High Standards

Breathlessly lauded across local media as “Stunning,” “A Waterfront gem,” and “A roadmap for waterfront revitalization,” — and even, in a high-water mark of hipster virtue signalling, the site of the lastest Justin Bieber make-out sesh — Williamsburg’s newly-opened Domino Park is well on its way to becoming the poster child for public-private open-space partnership in North Brooklyn.

That the shiny new park is an admirable addition to a city already awash in excellence comes as no surprise: Given the sophistication of former Dumbo-developers Two Trees Management; the participation of High-line landscape designers, Field Operations; and an unrivalled riverside parcel to work with, excellence was to be expected. However, an underappreciated contributor to this excellence is surely the city’s own Parks Department, whose overarching waterfront plan and rigid design stipulations guide the development of not only this, but a host of other public-private parks currently under development along the “gold coast” of Williamsburg-Greenpoint.

Governed by the 2005 Greenpoint-Williamsburg Open Space Master Plan, the North Brooklyn waterfront is envisioned as a shoreline public space, running from the terminus of Manhattan Avenue at Greenpoint’s Northern tip all the way to the Williamsburg bridge, and comprising both public parks, such as the long aborning Bushwick Inlet Park, and privately owned public spaces, such as the new Domino Park.

While the public parks undergo a series of rigorous, Parks-department convened visioning and public review periods (such as the recent Bushwick Inlet Park visioning meeting), privately-owned public spaces are less constrained, having to simply obey a stringent set of design guidelines originally scheduled in the 2005 Open Space Master Plan, revisited in a 2008 amendment, and detailing in minute detail everything from the orientation of park trees to the height of park benches to the types of plants that may be planted in park planters. All of Domino Park’s amenities, from the lawn at the park’s Northern terminus, to the rectilinear orientation of the plantings, to the height of the planting beds themselves, are physical manifestation of these city-issued guidelines.

Also stipulated by the guidelines is how much and what kind of open space is required for publicly-accessible privately built parks and walkways. The key ratios are determined by lot size, and waterfront footage: For example, development on a lot of 10,000 square feet, with at least 100 linear feet of waterfront, is required to build and maintain a public walkway along the shore not less than 40 feet wide. Larger lots summarily require more open space, including amenities such as lawns, playgrounds, and extra seating.

Of course, with real estate along the waterfront at a premium, public space is often an embattled commodity, so it comes as no surprise that developers are given to pinch, prod, skimp, and outright shun the city’s mandates. A recent case in point occurred this past Tuesday, June 12, when Greenpoint’s Community Board 1 shot down a major developer’s request for a variance from the aforementioned design guidelines. Citing ease of use and maintenance, the developers behind the massive Greenpoint Landing sought to reduce the planting areas in their proposed public-private park from 50% to 35% of the total space, in the process replacing a planned lawn with fixed tiered seating. The community board unanimously rejected their request, noting that, “We’re desperate for green space, and there’s just a tremendous dearth of it in this area,” and citing the dangerous precedent set by allowing developers to play fast and loose with the design guidelines.

Naturally, guarding the Parks-department's vision for public space against such regressive actions by developers requires a diligent and informed citizenry to hold their feet to the fire. Friday’s action by the Community Board was studiously and diligently championed by members of organizations including Friends of Bushwick Inlet Park, Friends of Transmitter Park, and a handful of familiar faces in the local environmental movement.

As a living system, the public-private model thrives on the sunlight of citizen engagement. With more and more parcels coming online daily — both Greenpoint Landing and The Greenpoint are scheduled to open their parks sometime this summer — the stakes are quite high. And with high stakes come enhanced responsibilities. If an informed citizenry is the key to democracy, than super-informed neighbors — versed in the tenets of the Open Space Master Plan, cognizant of the prescriptions of the Design Guidelines, and dogged in implementation oversight — are the key to excellent public parks.

When done right, the process can yield results such as are now celebrated at Domino Park: excellent and democratic open space, publicly accessible and efficiently built in accordance with the principles set out by our own citizens and codified and overseen by our own Parks department in the present day.

Are you interested in learning about future parks, both public and private, in North Brooklyn? The following organizations are excellent resources:
Open Space Alliance
Friends of Bushwick Inlet Park
Friends of Transmitter Park
Neighbors Allied for Good Growth
Brooklyn Community Board 1