BPC Dog Run Plan Faces Closer Scrutiny   The question in Battery Park City these days is not "who let the dogs out?" but, once they’re out, where will they play? A month ago it seemed likely that they'd soon be romping at a new dog run on a plaza in central Battery Park City. Now that plan is being challenged by residents of the Gateway Plaza complex, next to the proposed dog run site, who spoke out against it at a Community Board 1 (CB1) committee meeting on April 2. By the end of the meeting, that plan, which seemed ready to move forward last month, was at least temporarily put on hold. The Battery Park City Committee voted to explore alternatives to placing a 4,000-square-foot dog run on Monsignor Kowsky Plaza, after the residents passionately voiced their fears about noise and about the proximity of a dog run to a toddler playground. Hardly anyone argues that there shouldn't be a dog run in Battery Park City. But where should it go? Various suggested locations have been rejected for one reason or another by the Battery Park City Authority or by Community Board 1 (CB1), leaving the neighborhood with only temporary dog runs on sites earmarked for development. "The history of dog runs in Battery Park City is a long, sordid affair," Vince McGowan, assistant director of the BPC Parks Conservancy, said at the community board meeting, as he discussed the most recent plan for a canine play area. At its previous meeting just one month earlier, the committee had voted to give the BPC Parks Conservancy and an architect the go-ahead to design a dog run for the site (see   BPC Dog Run Plan Moves Forward). Details had to be worked out and the Authority still had to give its final approval, but the plan had been in the works for over a year and had stirred few objections so prospects looked good. The plaza, formerly called Pumphouse Plaza, has to be ripped up and resurfaced later this year anyway. But opposition quickly developed, especially among Gateway tenants whose windows face the site. Opponents said they hadn’t had a chance to raise their concerns because the meeting had not been publicized, so the dog run was back on the agenda at the committee’s April 2 meeting. This time, the critics showed up. "You can’t put this under people’s windows," said an agitated Fran Miller, whose fifth-floor apartment faces the plaza. "When people are talking down there it reverberates off the water." "Make no mistake, it will be disruptive to people," said Lita Talarico, another Gateway resident. "A dog run is necessary. We need one. But it shouldn’t be at the expense of any residents. I’d like to be convinced that there is no other space available. The dog run’s designer, Claire Weisz said that trees and other landscape elements would provide an adequate sound buffer. She said the concept plan called for the dog run to be about 80 feet from the nearest Gateway building, but that it could be altered to address residents’ concerns. "We can look at how far away it can be and what shape it can be," she said. Lisa Hagerman, whose apartment also overlooks the plaza, said a dog run might pose a danger to children at the play area next to the proposed site, which is designated for kids two years old and under. "I have a dog and a child but I just don’t know that I want to mix dogs and the youngest children," she said. "I can’t fathom that this needs to be in this particular spot." "We don’t need a dog snapping at the children when they come down the slide," agreed Lisa Paige, another Gateway resident and former president of the BPC Parents’ Association. "Not everyone is afraid like you," responded Paula Galloway, who with her husband, Jeff, a recently appointed CB1 member, helped found the Battery Park City Dog Owners’ Association. Galloway noted that many young children enjoy playing with dogs. "We rely on the New York City Parks Department’s guidelines," said the Parks Conservancy’s McGowan. "They don’t find that dogs and kids are inconsistent, and in many cases dog runs and playgrounds are put close to each other because families often use both." Paige also questioned the allocation of space for canine recreation. "Four thousand square feet may not sound like a lot, but that’s ten times the size of our teeny kids play space," she said. She suggested looking at spots on the plaza of the World Financial Center, but McGowan said that Brookfield Properties, the World Financial Center’s developer, had rejected the suggestion. Talarico suggested using space around North Cove. "We’ve looked north to south in Battery Park city, and there’s no 4,000-square-foot space that is suitable and that we’re allowed access to," McGowan said. That size, he said, is recommended by the Parks Department. The committee members voted to form a subcommittee with Gateway residents, including supporters and opponents of the plaza dog run proposal, to work with Weisz and the Conservancy to look for alternative sites and report back early next month. McGowan said he supported the group’s involvement, but noted that the issue needs to be decided by around July 4, to give the Authority time to prepare for construction in the fall. If a dog run is ultimately created for the plaza, the group will work with Weisz to address residents’ concerns. "It shouldn’t be us against them, dog owners versus non-dog owners" said Jeff Galloway. "As we can see this issue generates a lot of emotion but I don’t think these decisions should be made based on emotion. We have a need to accommodate the large number of dogs in the community." see BPC Dog Run Plan Moves Forward (posted March 12)