Planned Memorial both Derided and Defended at Town Hall Meeting by Barry Owens It is mostly rubble now, with a few surviving trees here and there, but by next spring the city-owned lot in Hanover Square will be a proper park once again, with topiaries, hand-engraved paving stones, more benches than ever before and a private trust to pay for its maintenance. So why are some neighbors of Hanover Square Park, the future home of the British Memorial Garden, so upset? "I have always taken offense at this park because no one asked us if we wanted it," said Viqui Maggio, a resident of 3 Hanover Square. Maggio and a dozen other nearby residents spoke out against the park last month at a town hall meeting with Councilman Alan Gerson. Many of the critics said it was the first time they were seeing the park plan, which includes a commissioned monument in honor of the 67 British citizens killed in the Sept. 11 attack on the World Trade Center. Much has been written about the park, including the visit by Princess Ann. Joel Kopel, who is a member of the board of directors at 3 Hanover Square and of Community Board 1, said he had posted flyers and even set up an easel exhibiting the park plan in his building's lobby. Still, there was confusion and anger at the meeting, where an official from the city's Parks Department discussed design details for the triangular park bordered by Hanover, Pearl and William Streets. "They came and they sang Welsh songs and passed out pretty watercolors, but this is the first time we've heard these details," said Donna Keren, another resident of 3 Hanover Square. "We should sue," came a cry from the audience. "This is unprecedented. No city park has ever been handed over to commemorate one event. It's wrong and every New Yorker should be ashamed." Gerson said that the project had gone through a public review process and that, short of going to court, there was no stopping it. "It may be possible to tweak it a bit here and there if that would help," he offered. Namshik Yoon, chief of operations for the Parks Department, described plans for the installation of fence posts, the laying of a stone pathway-each of the pavers engraved with the name of a county in Great Britain or Northern Ireland-and the planting of flowers in the spring and trees that will grow into bronze frames to shape the future topiary. When Yoon came to the part about the 19-foot-tall monolith that will stand at the south end of the park, he was interrupted. "A tombstone," said Maggio. "It's a 19-foot tombstone." She said she was upset that her children would have to see it and be reminded of 9/11 each time they walked out their door. The statue, a granite slab with a hollowed and glowing center designed by artist Anish Kapoor, is the centerpiece of the memorial garden. It will be surrounded by shrubbery that will soften its impact, Yoon explained. "It's not going to be a cemetery," said Kopel. "It's going to be great." At least one other resident was excited about the memorial. "I think it's a beautiful concept," Shirley Juergensen said after the meeting, speaking in a soft British accent. "I hope people can reconcile to their misgivings about it." The park is now a fenced-in construction site. In the next few months crews will do underground utility work and then repave the park, which is scheduled to reopen in September. But it will be next spring before the planting of trees, shrubs and flowers indigenous to Great Britain will mark the park's completion. "This park is especially important for renewal and to connect the community," Camilla Hellman, president of the British Memorial Garden Trust, told the Trib in a telephone interview. "We have tried from the very beginning to involve the community." For the past two years the Garden Trust has organized caroling in the park during the holidays, hosted performances of pipers and last Sept. 11 a Welsh choir sang-an event that Hellman hopes will become a tradition. Across the street at India House, an 1854 landmark that today is a private club and restaurant, general manager Andrew Curtis said he is anxious to see a British garden bloom just outside the club's door. "It reminds me of my childhood," said Curtis, who is British. "And I don't see anything wrong with a visit from royalty."