The Battery Park City Authority is asking for your input on how to improve Wagner Park.
BY YANNIC RACK
The grass can always be greener.
The Battery Park City Authority is kicking off a “top-to-bottom review” of Wagner Park — the green strip along Battery Place at the southern tip of the neighborhood — with a survey to gather feedback from residents, workers and visitors on how to improve it.
“Wagner Park has been there for over 20 years now, and we have questions about how people use it, what they like about it, what they think may need changing. So we want to get that feedback,” said Gwen Dawson, the authority’s vice president of real property.
Questions range from personal experience of the park itself to how many times respondents have visited sights in the surrounding area, and Dawson said the assessment of the park would pay special attention to storm resiliency and environmental sustainability.
“As we started this study, our focus was in large part on matters of resiliency, because the ‘Big U’ plan that has been conceptually devised by the city would impact this area,” she said. “We want to make sure that we take a close look at how that kind of plan might impact the area, so that we have a way to feed into that.”
A planning consultant will evaluate the results of the survey, and Dawson said possible measures might include such improvements as installing additional public bathrooms or building new walkways.
“It’s not a redesign, it’s an assessment [at this point],” she said, adding that the BPCA expects to draw up some concepts and proposals within the next two months. “If, in fact, there are design components that will be necessary, that would be done separately with a contractor.”
The survey is available online at dandickson.typeform.com/to/JrbYEi, but residents can also request a paper copy by calling 212-417-2000 or from their local building doormen, who may also have them available, according to the authority.
Surveys should be completed by April 30, 2016, and paper surveys should be delivered to Battery Park City Authority, 200 Liberty Street, 24th Floor, New York, NY 10281, Attn: Wagner Park Survey.
Residents will also get to voice their thoughts on Wagner Park — as well as any other local issues — at the BPCA’s upcoming quarterly community meeting on Apr. 13 at 6 p.m. at 6 River Terrace.
