Museum plan in ‘limb-o’ over tree impact
BY GABE HERMAN
On Dec. 10, a State Supreme
Court justice ruled that the
American Museum of Natural
History could proceed with building
its planned new $383 million Gilder
Center for Science, Education and Innovation
on parts of adjacent Theodore
Roosevelt Park. But on Dec. 19,
an Appellate Court issued a temporary
stay order against construction in
the park until an appeal on the case
is heard.
The local organization fi ghting to
preserve the green space, Community
United to Protect Theodore Roosevelt
Park, called the decision “an incredible
development” in announcing it on its
Web site.
“Our legal fi ght would have been
dead in the water, but in a mere matter
of hours, our position is stronger than
ever,” the statement said.
“We regard the order as incredibly
signifi cant,” said Community United
lawyer Michael Hiller. “This is a recognition
by the court that the interests
of preserving the green space far outweigh
any effort by the museum to act
quickly to start doing more work in the
park.”
The Gilder Center would use onequarter
acre of the park, which totals
17.5 acres. The museum currently occupies
7.7 acres within the park. Some
of the dispute has involved trees that
would be lost due to the construction
work for the project.
The museum sent a statement to
Manhattan Express in response to the
temporary-stay order:
“The Museum is confi dent that Judge
Kotler’s December 10, 2018, clear decision
on the merits, which dismissed the
entire case, will be affi rmed on appeal,
the museum said. “Yesterday’s interim
stay order is essentially confi ned to seven
trees. The Museum will continue to
focus on the numerous aspects of the
project that are already moving forward
and on its commitment to bringing to
New Yorkers and visitors from around
the world the expanded educational
and scientifi c resources made possible
by the Gilder Center for Science, Education
and Innovation.”
Hiller called the museum’s notion of
the order being basically confi ned to
seven trees “a crock.”
“That’s ridiculous spin. They can’t
do any harm to the green space,” asserted
William Raudenbush, chairperson
of Community United. “It’s par for
the course that they trivialize seven 50-
plus-year-old trees as being something
so casual.
“It’s very unfortunate to be facing a
cultural institution to begin with,” he
added, “but at this phase, you kind of
have to look at them as a developer.”
Community United wants the museum’s
proposed project to go through
A design rendering of the American Museum of Natural History’s Gilder Center project, center, which would
sit on part of Theodore Roosevelt Park.
The area of Theodore Roosevelt Park, seen in a fall photo, where the American Museum of Natural History
seeks to expand.
the offi cial city review process known
as Uniform Land Use Review Procedure,
or ULURP.
The city claims the park was given
to it in an 1876 statute, according to
Community United attorney Hiller.
But he said that statute only involved
contracts with the park to build, and
didn’t concern ownership of the whole
park. Hiller said that a few years later,
the city wanted to build and went to the
state Legislature to ask for permission,
and that only in this latest project is the
city now claiming full park ownership.
The city supports the Gilder project.
Raudenbush told Manhattan Express,
“We’re not asking for the moon.
We’re asking for them to go through
the proper processes as enshrined in
the law.”
Hiller said there is no date set yet for
the appeal, but added, “At our suggestion,
the court will likely set an expedited
schedule.”
“If we don’t have this protection,
they could do whatever they want,” he
added. “They have refused to provide
a master plan for the future, which as
neighbors, leaves a lot of doubt and a
lot of paranoia about how they plan on
impacting the neighborhood. And it
doesn’t seem to me like they’re considering
us at all.”
8 January 10 - January 23, 2019 MEX Schneps Media