CB1 Rejects Riverside Eatery and Other Plans for Local Pier

By Carl Glassman
POSTED MARCH 30, 2007

Community Board 1 last month unanimously rejected the Hudson River Park Trust's plans for Pier 26, at Hubert Street, that show a boathouse the board deems too small, a restaurant that it claims is
too big, and a river study center that is missing altogether.

The board passed its resolution following several meetings in which a working group of board members and river enthusiasts came up with their own—and much scaled down—concepts for the piers when they are rebuilt.

Many wish for a return of the River Project, a marine study center, and the Downtown Boathouse, a club offering free kayaking to the public, the two non-profit groups that were long-time Pier 25 tenants before it closed in 2005 for reconstruction. As of now there is no money for either the boathouse or a river study center.

The group is angry because the Trust included a restaurant in its plans, but not an estuarium which had been on the pier since 1987. In addition, they say the boathouse, as drawn, is unworkable. In a statement, Noreen Doyle, a Trust vice president, said the CB1 resolution reflected incorrect information because the agency was "discouraged from attending the meeting" in which the boathouse was discussed, and therefore could not give its input.

According to the plans, the restaurant would connect to the boathouse, with seating for 229 people. That would include outdoor seating on the pier for 100 diners, 80 inside the restaurant and 35 on an upper deck. The deck, to be used for public seating, would extend over the restaurant and the boathouse.

At a March 26 meeting of CB1's Waterfront Committee, many hoped to hear details from a Hudson River Park Trust official on plans for the Tribeca waterfront. In an e-mail to CB1, Connie Fishman, the Trust's president, said she was sick and could not attend.

"I'm really sorry she's not here. We had some questions," Julie Nadel, the committee chair and critic of the Trust, said with heavy understatement. "But that does not have to deter us."

Several people expressed anger at a process that had included CB1 input in earlier years, then ignored it, they said, and produced plans that did not reflect what the board had wanted.

"We need to go back to that process," said CB1 member Anthony Notaro. "Wipe this clean and let's start again."

In her e-mail, Fishman said that pilings for Piers 25 and 26 would be driven from May to November, followed by the pouring of concrete for the decks. The bare piers, she said, are expected to be completed at the end of next year. The next step would be installation of bathrooms and utility structures, she said, but there is no money left to build them.

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