Accessibility Info
Northern Manhattan Parks Master Plan
Project Description
The Planning and Parklands division, together with the Northern Manhattan Parks Administrator, are preparing a long-term conceptual master plan for the parks north of 155th Street in Manhattan.
The plan will be used to:
- Guide the next 20 years of capital expenditures and privately funded projects
- Establish operational and strategic priorities
The plan will address concerns such as:
- Ecology and sustainability
- Recreational facilities and programming
- Community concerns
- Health and fitness
- Waterfront design and access
- Park operation and security
- Pedestrian and bicycle circulation
- Park accessibility
What Is Important to You?
We know from experience that the people who use or work in a park know what should be preserved, enhanced, or fixed. This interactive map displays the ideas we’ve gotten about Northern Manhattan parks, and allows you to vote on them or suggest new ones.
Click on a park zone, then a section within that zone, and get started! You too can help shape the future of Northern Manhattan parks.
Click on the map to start participating
Community Vision
Help us collect more input from people without internet access.
Tell them to mail their comments, concerns and ideas to:
Northern Manhattan Parks Master Plan
c/o Planning Division
The Arsenal, Central Park
New York, New York 10065
In addition to gathering input from residents and park users at brainstorming meetings, park volunteer sites, and community events, we have interviewed civic leaders, park experts, and community planners. We are learning what people are already working on, what problems they would like corrected, and what we should work on together, for the benefit of future generations.
We have asked people to tell us what the Northern Manhattan Parks would look like in 20 years, if their wishes were granted. So far, many people envision a community that feels greener, and is connected more fully to the safe, clean, and healthy forested hills, rivers, and wetlands of our parks. The community desires a linked system of scenic and safe pedestrian and bicycle paths, use of the river shorelines, and recreational facilities with restrooms.
The Northern Manhattan community has long been engaged in planning efforts to improve and preserve their neighborhoods and park system. Over the years many improvements have been made by neighborhood partners, elected officials, the Parks Department, Fort Tryon Park Trust, the New York Restoration Project, and the Highbridge Coalition, to name a few. It is time to take stock of what has been accomplished, to amplify and build on existing plans, and to plan the next twenty years of work.
Site Analysis Maps
We are also analyzing the park conditions and use. As we complete the sections, we will post:
- Circulation including pedestrian, bicycle and vehicles
- Community demographics and recreational facilities
- Current capital projects
- Demographics
- Design and social history
- Distribution of park facilities
- Existing projects and project requests
- Historic geology and hydrology
- Landscape and forest condition
- Park appearance and condition
- Projects underway by others
- Recreational facilities, use areas, concessions
- Safety and social concerns
- Scenic experience and park features
- Slopes, erosion and water problems
- Waterfront including riparian edge conditions, accessibility and use
Next Steps
We are working with an Advisory Council composed of citizens and officials. We met at the beginning of July 2010 to prioritize the goals for the plan based on the results from the leadership interviews and community visioning sessions. In September, we will prepare conceptual level plans that address the problems and accomplish the goals. We will make recommendations on projects, design, operations and programming strategies, which will be reviewed by the Advisory Council. We will post our findings on this website, and share them at public meetings. We will present a compelling and feasible plan to Community Board 12 in the fall of 2010.
